Just Pretend
by Arishandera
Summary: Yugi, Ryou,and Malik along with their dark sides are faced with the most challenging trial in their lives: pretending to be gay. Who knew a seemingly small trivial lie could cause such unwanted chaos, competition, and these...uncertainties.
1. Chapter 1: Liar Liar

**This is something I couldn't get out of my head for a while now and I just had to write it. My YGO/HP crossover is still being worked on and I'm just having this other fic as something I could update whenever I come up with a funny idea or something.**

**Yaoi/Shonen-ai in a weird kind of way…don't really know actually…**

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Chapter 1:

Liar Liar

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Seto Kaiba was a man of high expectations, not to mention standards. He made sure that every employee hired into Kaiba Corporation was by no means average. You must be truly exceptional to gain Seto Kaiba's favor. And so, Seto had this system he followed whenever he decided to introduce new meat to his company.

Seto would meet those individuals aspiring to be a part of his enterprise personally. He'd even spend a whole day with said person just to judge whether he or she was worthy enough to be accepted by Kaiba Corp. Like today for example.

He had Carlos Dream over for dinner, a wealthy American businessman known for owning one of the country's most profitable computer hardware companies. In truth, Seto felt compelled to wave the man's proposal to support Kaiba Corp off, but then he discovered that some of his staff members actually had some sort of backbone. It was obvious that they were in favor of including Dream in the circle, and it was plausible, what with the man's successful business record and all. They even went as far as threaten Seto to withdraw their services from his company if he failed to gain the American's support.

And so Seto reluctantly invited the man to his home, had dinner, shared numbered figures, and were now engaged in small talk over a light snack.

Strange enough, Seto found himself talking about homosexuality with his visitor. And god be damned, he never knew how they touched upon such a topic.

"You know, my son is gay, Mr. Kaiba," Dream mused, sipping his glass of red wine. "A nice lad, though I never expected him to swing _that _way…"

Seto, a bit uncomfortable with the topic, only nodded in what he hoped was an understanding way.

"Do _you_ have anything against homosexuality, Mr. Kaiba?" Dream said suddenly.

He blinked for a moment, wondering what answer would be most favorable for the other, "Eh…" he said unsurely. "No, of course not. In fact, I have a couple of friends in a relationship."

"Oh, really?"

Seto had to fight the urge to slap himself over what he just said as he nodded. '_Where the hell did that come from?'_. Hopefully, Dream would only let it go as some sort of unimportant trivial fact.

Unfortunately for Seto Kaiba, he didn't.

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"And he asked you if he could meet your so-called friends?"

Seto, feeling strangely ashamed for some reason, nodded.

A pause, then; "Well, what did you tell him?"

He took a deep breath before answering, "I told him that you, Bakura, and Yugi were gay…"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Seto cringed, actually feeling intimidated, as Malik Ishtar screamed in his face. The Egyptian was completely red, and Seto shrank back, as if trying to sink into the chair he was sitting on. The others who were present in the room, Yugi Mutou and Ryou Bakura merely sat, shock written all over their faces. And though they did not react as loudly as their other friend, it was obvious that they felt the same way.

Yugi, eyes wide, managed to choke out, "What?"

Poor Ryou only gaped at Seto.

"N-Now, let me explain—"

Seto was surprised to hear his own voice trembling. He'd practiced numerous times in front of the mirror how he was going to break the news to the three, and even managed to engrave a speech in his head. But it was harder to get it out on the spot than talking to yourself through an inanimate object, he guessed.

"What's there to explain?" Malik raged, eyes glinting, "You basically insulted our masculinity with your damn lie! And for your information; men, especially _straight _men, don't like that."

"Ishtar, just hear me out!" Seto yelled. Malik glared at him for a moment before crossing his arms, waiting for an answer.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before speaking, "Alright, well, as I said, I told Dream that I have friends who were gay…and he said that I should bring them to this some sort of party he was hosting for his son before we completely sealed our deal."

Yugi, Ryou and Malik's heads immediately snapped up.

"Now, now, let me continue," Seto said quickly, before any of them started shouting like crazy once more. "You know me, I never ask favors from _anyone_. But...I really need to gain his favor, the company needs him…" he trailed off, no need for them to know that he was practically being blackmailed by his staff members.

Yugi bit his lip, he would really love to help Seto, he really did, being a helpful person by nature. But this was unlike any situation he ever encountered, something he never even dreamed of. Sure Yugi saved Seto and Mokuba from Pegasus back then, saved them both again from Noah when they turned into stone…but pretending to be _gay_? For _Kaiba_?

"Err…Couldn't you have someone else pretend for you, Kaiba?" Ryou spoke up timidly.

"Yeah, with all your money, I'm sure you could find _someone_ out there willing to do…this favor of yours for a price," Malik said.

"Yeah, well…"Seto gulped uncharacteristically, "Dream wanted to see some pictures…so I showed them the one with all the eight Battle City finalists."

Malik sighed, "God Kaiba, I never wanted anyone as dead as you right now," he muttered, "And just so you know, that includes Yugi back when I thought he killed my father."

"Look, I'm not asking you to do this out of the goodness of your hearts," Seto said, trying to sound reasonable. "We can…settle everything out and then I'll pay you."

"I don't know Kaiba…" Yugi felt really uncomfortable, but did not want for Seto to think any badly of him.

"It's only for a couple of days Yugi. After the party we'll stay with them the next day just to make them believe everything," Seto said in an almost pleading sort of voice, "After that, it's over. I pay you, you're a whole lot richer and we can forget all about it!"

"I..Ugh…alright…" Yugi caved in.

Seto looked a Ryou, who was trying and failing to avoid his eyes.

"Oh…" he said pathetically, "Fine."

Finally, Seto looked at Malik, who was giving him the most heated glare he ever laid eyes on.

"Whatever," Malik sighed, his arms dropping down at his sides. "But the pay better be good."

Truly filled with relief, Seto gave them a smile he always did at the end of a productive business meeting. "Trust me, it will," he stood up. "I'll contact you later…for any of the preparations we'll need to make."

Yugi nodded, also standing up, followed by Ryou and Malik.

"Well…alright then, I guess we'll be leaving now?" Yugi said.

Seto nodded and opened the door out of his office. As soon as all three teenagers were out, Seto said, "And just so you know. Your dark sides would have to come along…I told Dream you were all in a relationship," and shut the door, locking it for good measure.

"WHAT?" all three's voices exclaimed from the other side. Seto only sighed and promised himself to never lie ever again, no matter how harmless it may be.

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**What do you think?**


	2. Chapter 2: Spit It Out

**Wow. Never really expected to get this much reader's response in such a short time. But doing so did motivate me to make the next chapter faster than my usual. And thank you for the reviews, though unexpected they were of course appreciated (and made me feel funny inside, haha). Anyways, I hope I don't disappoint, and enjoy.**

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Chapter 2:

Spit it Out

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The day was halfway done, and still, they had done nothing worth mentioning. Malik, Yugi, and Ryou had told them that they'd be seeing Seto for a while, leaving them, their three dark sides with each other's company.

Yami Yugi was a bit surprised that they've gotten through two hours without a single insult thrown, or a limb severed. It seemed that Yami Malik, as well as Yami Bakura were in one of their better moods today. There was even a moment when the three shared a civilized conversation, but a short while later, probably realizing what they were doing, all had stopped abruptly mid-topic.

Not known for his patience, Yami Malik glanced at the wall clock ticking away for probably the tenth time in that hour.

"What the hell's taking them so long?" he said irritably.

"Heh, who cares," Bakura shrugged from his place on the floor. The white-haired boy was lying on his back, arms serving as a pillow under his head. "But I _do _want to know what it is that Kaiba wanted to tell them that he can't with us there, I mean, we are all technically the same person."

"Maybe it's some sort of secret and Kaiba thinks he can't trust us."

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes and jerked his head towards Yami Yugi, "Then why is _he _here with us? Hell, I bet my ring Kaiba trusts the pharaoh more than Malik."

Yami Yugi, hearing their conversation, was about to join in himself when he heard three familiar voices at the other room. Strangely, it sounded like they were having an argument.

"Yugi, you gave in first. And so, you should also be the first to _tell them_," came Malik's voice.

"But Malik! You gave in too! Whether I agreed first or last, it doesn't matter," said Yugi's.

"Guys…maybe we should just tell them together?" was the reasonable voice of Ryou.

"Bakura, in case you don't know, I have Yami Malik as my other self. All of my hate, anguish, frustration, not to mention temper rolled into one? So I think it should be obvious why I prefer to _not _be present in the room when you break the news."

By this time, all three former spirits' interest were piqued. And almost simultaneously, Yami Yugi, Yami Malik, and Yami Bakura got up and approached the door as to where they were hearing their light side's rather loud quarrel.

"Hey, my dark side has a temper to you know!" Ryou half-shouted, sounding miffed.

There was a pause, and the darks unconsciously leaned closer to hear what might be coming next.

"You're right, Bakura," Malik said, "So…I guess _Yugi _should tell them."

"What—?"

"Your other self _is _the mildest of the three…" Ryou mused.

"Wait—you guys!"

They heard the sounds of struggling at the other side. Yami Bakura looked at Yami Yugi, confusion apparent in his face, "What the hell—?"

And then the door the three darks were leaning their heads against burst open. A series of "Oow!"s and a few curses flew out of their mouths as the door banged on their heads painfully.

Blinking with a newly-formed headache, Yami Yugi looked up to see his host being pushed forward none too-gently by the other two lights.

"Wah!" Yugi exclaimed as Ryou and Malik successfully managed to push him into the room.

"Well…good luck Yugi!" Malik said hastily while giving the other an almost apologetic smile. He then grabbed the handle of the door and quickly closed it. Ryou, was mouthing, "I'm sorry," behind him before they disappeared from view.

Yugi blinked for a moment from his position on the floor. His other self looked at him with concern and scrambled towards him to help him up.

"What was that all about?" Yami Malik said loudly.

"Yugi?" Yami Yugi said worriedly.

Yugi, now standing on his own feet, looked up at his partner's concerned gaze. Curse Ryou and Malik for forcing him into this situation. He wasn't really that worried about his dark's reaction to their rather…unsettling news, but Yami Malik and Yami Bakura are a totally different case altogether. He couldn't really blame the others for dreading on telling them.

"Uhm…uh…I—we have s-something t-to tell you," he stuttered.

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow and looked down at the smaller boy, "Is this about your visit with Kaiba?"

Yugi gulped, "Eh…yeah."

"Well spit it out then."

He looked at the other's curious yet still dangerous gaze, at his dark's concerned and patient one, and at Yami Malik's dark skeptical expression. How was he going to tell them whilst being assured to make it out of this room alive? Yami Bakura leaned closer waiting for an answer, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yami Malik absently stroking the Millennium Rod. Oh _God_. He broke.

"I—I…I'm sorry!" he suddenly blurted out, surprising all three darks, "Really! W-we didn't really want i-it, but Kaiba forced u-us. H-he was so desperate! His c-company w-was in trouble if he wouldn't b-be able to g-get the s-support from this businessman. And h-he l-lied that he had some g-gay friends to gain the m-man's f-favor, so h-he told him that m-me, M-Malik, and B-Bakura, were gay and i-in a r-relationship w-with y-you!"

Yami Yugi, completely caught off-guard by his light's outburst only managed to catch a few snippets of Yugi's short monologue.

"You're gay?" he asked, confused.

"What—? No, it's—"

Yami Bakura on the other hand, was paying considerably more attention. "So Kaiba lied that we're all gays? Then let him lie all he wants," he shrugged with indifference. "I'm not happy that he did, but really, I have more things to worry about than his petty misfortunes with that company of his."

Yugi swallowed. He hadn't said that worse part yet, and it was too late to get out of this pit he had dug himself into. "Well, K-Kaiba promised that Dream, that's the American businessman, would be able t-to m-meet us…"

Yami Malik and Yami Bakura, who had been walking away, stopped.

Yami Malik turned around, "What?" he asked bluntly, walking towards Yugi once more, "What do you mean 'meet us'?"

He was fixing Yugi with such an intense look that the poor boy couldn't even move from the spot he was standing on. "I-I-I-I…" he stuttered helplessly.

Raising an eyebrow, Yami Malik looked at him with amusement as he stumbled over his words. He leaned forward, inches from Yugi's face.

"Well?"

Yugi was about ready to wet his pants. The other sure was scarier up-close.

Yami Yugi, who'd been simply observing the others talk, finally reacted when he saw the other dark scaring his light side, and so pulled Yami Malik roughly away from Yugi. "Don't try to intimidate him, especially when I'm here," he growled

Yami Malik rolled his eyes and proceeded to go towards the door Yugi had come in earlier, "Fine, if you're going to be tight-lipped all about it, I'll ask my own light side."

Yugi panicked; Malik would not be too happy about this, and despite his better judgment shouted, "Kaiba asked us to pretend we're gays so he can gain the favor of Dream!"

Yami Bakura stared, "He asked you _what_?"

"Uh…"

Yami Malik turned away from the door, "And what did you three _dear_ lights answer?"

"Uhm…we agreed?" Yugi squeaked.

The room was extremely quiet. Yami Bakura had this completely shocked expression on his face, Yami Malik was frozen in place and looked as if he was trying to process what Yugi had just said. Strangely, Yami Yugi only looked clueless.

"Who's gay then?"

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**I've never really written humor before and I'm using this story to practice in that field, as well as a sort of try-out for yaoi/shonen-ai (if I'd even decide to make it one). That's why I came up with this silly little plot that could turn both ways. Like I said, it's yaoi/shonen-ai in a strange twisted way. Glad you all seem to like that plot though.**


	3. Chapter 3: Are You In or Out?

**You guys just spoil me too much with your encouraging reviews, haha. Anyways, here's the third chapter, hopefully as enjoyable, or even more than the previous two.**

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Chapter 3:

Are You In or Out?

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Ryou and Malik, after dumping Yugi with the darks, decided to wait for the inevitable end of the world as they know it. They had not taken the news too well when Seto told them, how much worse would the reaction of three dark spirits be then? One being a proud slightly arrogant pharaoh, another a vengeful cunning thief, and lastly, a person's hate and anger personified.

They were, frankly, screwed.

Ryou had made himself comfy on his bed, and passed the time by reading a book. Malik, on the other hand, had positioned himself near the door, trying his very best to hear what could probably be happening with the others. Never mind that the living room was a hall and two rooms away, he was sure that if any of the dark's reacted violently, he'd be able to hear it.

He glanced at Ryou's alarm clock. Ten whole minutes had passed since they left Yugi in the mercy of Yami Yugi, Yami Malik, and Yami Bakura.

_'What if they killed him?' _

He highly doubted that Yami Yugi would so such a thing, but with the other two less moralized darks…

"Uh…Bakura?"

Ryou looked up from his book, "Hmm? What is it Malik?"

Malik listened through the door once more for any sound for a moment, when he heard none, he turned back to face Ryou.

"Your apartment is so silent."

The other blinked, not really understanding what Malik meant. "Uh…yes, well…I do like my peace and quiet."

"That's not what I meant," Malik pointed at the door, "It's _too _quiet, and we might've left Yugi with my dark and yours for too long!"

Ryou looked at his friend dubiously, "What are you so worried about? It was your idea to force him to tell the others in the first place."

"You agreed with my decision you know."

"Yeah—Well—!" Ryou started to say but was interrupted by a banging at the door, which they had locked as a precaution in case their dark sides plummeted into one of their violent moods.

"Oh _Ryou_…" they heard Yami Bakura call out in an obviously forced sweet voice.

Both boys forgot about their argument at that point. Ryou was completely taken by surprise by their visitor. Malik was busy pushing a drawer against the door.

"Uh—," he looked at Malik for help. The other motioned to the bathroom.

Getting the silent message, Ryou said, "I'm taking a bath, come back later!"

They both listened whether Yami Bakura bought it.

After a moment, a different voice said, "Ugh, let's just break the door down. I'm not fond of stalemates."

"Do you want to pay for that door?"

"Well, no…" came an irritated reply.

Before either Malik or Ryou could react, they heard a small almost inaudible click. A second later, the door creaked open barely an inch, stopping as it hit the drawer.

"Heh, how nice, they've barricaded the door," Yami Malik said with amusement.

Before the darks could push the obstacle out of the way though, Malik had thrown himself against the drawer, shutting the door close in the process.

Yami Malik barely had the time to pull his hand away as it snapped shut. Damn those hosts.

"Lightside, why don't you come out of there?" he growled.

Malik ignored the request and asked, "So Yugi told you huh?"

"Oh, yes. That's why I'm here, and the thief. We want to talk to our soon-to-be boyfriends," Yami Malik said evilly.

Hearing the last sentence made Malik choke involuntarily and Ryou's face to redden.

"What—You—!" They heard Malik say in a strained sort of voice.

Yami Bakura and Yami Malik, both knowing that this must've distracted their lights, gave the door one big mighty push.

Ryou gasped as the door to his room burst open all of a sudden, the force was strong enough to push the drawer they've blocked the door with away, as well as throw Malik unto the floor into a heap.

Yami Malik and Yami Bakura stepped in, both wearing dangerous expressions.

The former grinned at his light side, who was regaining himself, grabbed the other's arm and pulled him up.

Malik gulped as his dark grinned at him.

"I'm going to have a _long_ chat with my _love_, I'll leave you now, thief?"

Yami Bakura, who had been giving Ryou an accusing look, nodded. "Fine. We need to settle some things too, eh, _little Ryou_?"

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"Oh, it's alright Yugi," Yami Yugi said, "I don't mind pretending to be gay."

Yugi blinked, unsure whether he heard right, "You _don't_?"

"Well…it's not like we're doing anything evil. And besides, you said Kaiba's going to be paying us. You could use the money," Yami Yugi shrugged.

Wow, Yugi thought, he didn't expect for his other self to be _this _compliant. He expected at least some small conflict to go on between the two of them. It was in these times that Yugi could fully appreciate how extremely lucky he was that he had such an understanding other self. Sure the other might have a bloated head at times, and an ego possible bigger than Yami Bakura or Yami Malik's, but it was bearable. What more could you expect from someone who used to rule Ancient Egypt?

"Wow. Well, thanks for being so understanding."

Yami Yugi smiled and patted his light side's head fondly, "Your welcome, Yugi."

Yugi sighed, "Well…we can only hope Yami Malik and Yami Bakura takes this at least half as good as you do…"

"They're in one of their best moods today. I'm sure Malik and Bakura would be fine…but if you want, we can visit them both later. We do need to settle everything out."

"Yeah…"

After Yugi had said that they had agreed to Seto's insane request, both Yami Bakura and Yami Malik had stormed out of the room with murderous expressions in their faces after overcoming the initial shock of Yugi's announcement, probably out to find their lights.

"Uh…Yugi?" Yami Yugi suddenly said, Yugi can detect a hint of nervousness in his voice, "…I don't have to wear a dress, do I?"

"No, of course not! Gay people don't wear dresses, or at least…I don't think they do…"

A pause, and then, "Should we ask Kaiba?"

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As soon as Yami Malik had dragged his protesting and struggling light out of the room, Yami Bakura closed the door, locked it, and then turned to face Ryou once more.

Both white-haired boys stared at each other for a good while, neither blinking nor moving.

Finally, Ryou said, "Are you angry?"

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Oh no, of course not, I've always wanted to be gay."

The other pouted and answered, "Oh, come on, you know as well as me that Kaiba would've eventually forced us into it, even if we refused!"

"That's not the point," Yami Bakura frowned, "It's…embarrassing…" he admitted.

Ryou blinked for a moment then said, "Oh. Well…it's not like you're the only one who's going to do it. Yami Yugi and Yami Malik will be in this too you know…and knowing you, you'll take some kind of twisted comfort in that."

"Damn right I will."

A pause. "So…we're okay now?"

"Hmph," Yami Bakura crossed his arms, "Just don't expect me to act all lovey-dovey with you."

"Trust me, I don't."

"And just so you know, if anyone asks, I'm the dominant one. Clear?"

Ryou eyes widened, "WHAT?"

"You heard me," Yami Bakura smirked, tapping the other's nose teasingly.

The other shook him off, and glaring said, "Whoever said, _you_ could dominate me, huh?"

"It's all in appearances, _Ryou_," he said loftily, "You've got to admit; you look too damn effeminate, I sometimes wonder why you have all those girls pining for you in school. You look girly enough to be considered as one."

Ryou breathed deeply for a moment in an attempt to calm himself as his dark smirked at him.

Then; "Let me remind you, that I'm your reincarnation…so I guess, I probably got some of these effeminate traits from a certain tomb robber. A tomb robber who, surprisingly, looks exactly like girly little me."

Yami Bakura was made speechless after that. Damn, that was a good comeback.

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He could never really be sure what Yami Malik was going to do next, if the other was feeling angry or amused, or if he'd still be alive the next day. Yami Malik was probably one of the most unpredictable persons Malik have ever come across. Quite ironic, considering that the other was actually himself in a strange twisted way.

He'd long given up struggling from his place hoisted in Yami Malik's shoulder. The other had resorted to carrying him when he had latched himself at the doorway out of Ryou's apartment and refused to budge.

They received a few incredulous stares on their way to their own home, but it appeared that no one was brave enough to approach Yami Malik to ask about this strange display.

Both did not say a word during the walk.

Thankfully, the walk home was a short one, and soon Malik saw the house his sister had rented for their stay here. He felt Yami Malik fish the key from his pants and open the door.

When the door finally snapped shut, Yami Malik said, "Hey, _love_, we're home and _alone_."

Malik sighed exasperatedly. "Cut it out, will you?"

"Don't you want to do what all other couples do when they're _alone_?"

"Put me down."

He felt himself being deposited on the ground, surprisingly gently.

Malik stared at his dark suspiciously when he had both of his feet planted on the ground.

"What?" Yami Malik asked, feigning hurt, "Can't I be _nice _to my _love_?"

He only raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," Yami Malik said, and then without warning, grabbed Malik's shirt and dumped him on the couch. "I honestly don't know what you want, Lightside. You get all huffy and angry when people question your sexuality because of your clothes and…appearance. And now, you're actually willing to _be _gay!"

Malik sat up and glared, "I don't _want _to be one. It's only because of Kaiba! And besides, it's only pretending."

Yami Malik nodded in an understanding way, "You're willing to be gay for _Kaiba_…sounds reasonable."

"There is something in it for us too you know. Kaiba said he's going to pay us."

"Though I am greatly relieved to realize that you did not do this out of the kindness of your soul, I can't really say I'm at peace with our situation."

Malik made himself comfortable on the couch, and turned on the television. "It's not like you can do anything about it. If Yami Bakura and Yami Yugi somehow agree, you don't have a choice. Majority wins basically."

Yami Malik snatched the remote from him and turned the TV off, "We're talking _now_."

Knowing better than to challenge the other when he's like this, Malik complied and faced Yami Malik without voicing his protests, "Fine," he gritted out.

"When will we be performing this…little play?" Yami Malik asked.

Malik raised an eyebrow at the metaphor but answered, "We don't really know…Kaiba said he's going to contact us for any preparations we'll need to make."

The other frowned, "Preparations? What, is Kaiba going to hire someone to teach us how to _act _gay? Or is he going down that office of his and teach us himself?"

"I guess he'll ask someone to, we aren't really experts in this particular field aren't we?"

A smirk formed on Yami Malik's face, as he remembered something, "Oh, I wouldn't say that. I'm surprised you aren't limping whenever we leave a bar, with all the passes some of the guys there make at you."

Malik blushed fully, and his face formed a furious expression, "Why you—!"

"If there's one thing I can say, you're going to be a complete natural in this, Lightside," he patted his clearly vexed other half on the back, "And, embarrassed as I am to say it…I'm proud of you."

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Meanwhile, as the darks reluctantly accepted this unbelievable task their lights had forced them into, Seto Kaiba was contacting someone he had once vowed never to involve himself with again.

He listened as the phone rang three times before someone answered at the other end of the line.

"Industrial Illusions, how may I help you?" a woman's voice asked.

"This is Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation, I need to talk to your boss," he said firmly.

"Mr. Kaiba?" Seto heard the faint tapping of keys from the other side, the woman must be checking whether he was important enough to be taken directly to the head office. "Oh, of course, just wait a moment, I'll connect you to the office's direct line…"

Probably ten seconds later, Kaiba heard an all too-familiar voice, "Why, Kaiba-boy, isn't this an unexpected surprise! I did so miss you!"

Seto wondered if any of this was worth it, and can only hope that it was.

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**You probably noticed that this chapter was very much longer than the other two. The reason for this is because I'm going to have my exams this Monday until Thursday, so no fun stuff for me during those days so I just wanted to make it up to you guys, since I'll most probably be updating late after this. But I promise to get back immediately after my exams, since it's Christmas vacation and all and I'd have plenty of free time then.**

**Another thing, I realize my chapters are normally short, I'm very much willing to make it longer, say…around 2000 words per chapter? But that's up to all of you. So what shall it be?**

**And I think you can all guess who Kaiba was contacting here? And the person's role in the "preparations" our boys will need to make? **

**Bye for now guys.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Lesson Plan

**Here's the update guys. Merry Christmas, or a belated one or something (can't really be sure with the time difference and all).**

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Chapter 4:

The Lesson Plan

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A day after Seto shared his problem with Yugi, Malik, and Bakura; he summoned the three once more, this time with their darker sides to his mansion. Currently, they were all gathered in one of Seto's guest rooms, seated around an expensive-looking table as a couple of servants served them tea and cookies.

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow at the tray of chocolate chips, "Never thought you'd be one for these tea parties Kaiba…" he said dubiously.

Beside him, Yami Malik grabbed a piece and bit into it, "Yeah, you're being nice. I don't like it."

The others remained silent and only looked at their host, silently agreeing with the two dark spirits. Yes, Seto was indeed acting a bit strange. As soon as all three pairs of lights and darks have arrived, Seto had basically swept them in his arms, employing probably half of his household staff to make sure they were comfortable and such. Even stranger was that he seemed to be delaying the main point of their visit, something very _un_Kaiba-like. They've spent the first hour in the mansion being pampered by Seto's servants, and gifted with sweets and little gestures of kindness. It was apparent to everyone that these were probably what could be called as "peace offerings" and that Kaiba was going to tell them something very bad indeed.

"Uh, ahem, well…just making sure you're all comfortable before we start," Seto said nervously. He offered Ryou a tray of creampuffs. "Go on, help yourself."

Ryou's eyes brightened as Seto offered him his favorite snack and extended a hand to grab one, "Oh! Well…don't mind if I—"

"ALRIGHT, I'VE HAD IT!" Malik suddenly shouted, rising up and bringing his fists down the surface of the table. "Kaiba, if you called us here to say something about our little _pretending game_, then JUST COME OUT AND SAY IT!"

Seto gulped inwardly before regaining himself. Can't let anyone see him slip after all.

"Alright then," he said in a tone of finality, "Straight to the point. I've found someone who can most probably help us with the plan. You see, I am completely aware that none of you know how to act, well…_gay_, so I sought out someone who'd be able to help you—"

"Oh, finally! I've been waiting for _hours_!" A voice cried out. All eyes snapped to the door where a tall white-haired man had burst in through. "Oh, Kaiba-boy, I thought you would never get around to telling them!"

Malik, as well as his dark stared in slight confusion at the man, the lighter side wondering why the new arrival seemed so familiar.On the other hand, Yugi and his dark half, along with Ryou, stared at the man in shock and shouted in unison, "WHAT ARE _YOU _DOING HERE?"

Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes at the man, "Haven't I killed you before?"

Ryou snapped his eyes to his other self, "WHAT?"

"Him," Yami Bakura said, "I remember taking his eye out after Yugi won that last duel in Duelist Kingdom, after that I left him for dead. Never knew he lived," he shrugged carelessly.

"You took his eye out," Ryou repeated numbly.

Yami Yugi, who'd been listening to this rather informative conversation of the two Bakuras turned his attention back towards the white-haired man when Ryou started demanding why Yami Bakura hadn't informed him of this little venture of his.  
He suddenly felt someone tapping his shoulder and so turned around to see Malik and Yami Malik giving him a questioning look.

"Who's he?" Malik asked, "I think I've seen him somewhere…"

"You don't recognize him? He's—"

The topic of their little discussion, probably overhearing them, jumped in front of Malik, making said boy back up a bit, and said in a hurt voice, "Oh, don't you know me? I know you two."

Malik blinked, unsure as to how to react. Yami Malik, who was beside him, raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Can't say we do…" he said, and then his face formed a thoughtful expression, "Unless…"his eyes narrowed, "Do you, by any chance, go to the bar three blocks from Domino Museum?"

"A bar?" the man frowned, "I'm sorry, no. I never have the time to do so."

"Oh…" Yami Malik said softly, "Heh, I thought you were one of Lightside's admirers."

Everybody's attention was called by the seemingly trivial sentence.

Bakura gave Malik a look, "Admirers?"

"Hehe," Malik laughed nervously in an attempt to wave it off, "He doesn't have any idea as to what he's talking about. Admirers, pfft…"

"Oh…gained a bunch of fan girls haven't you?" Yami Bakura smirked.

Ryou looked at Yami Bakura, "But he's a man," he said, referring to the other white-haired individual in the room besides them.

"Oh, Lightside has some fan boys too. Some stalkers those little bugs are…" Yami Malik shook his head in a pitying sort of way, "He has me throw them off sometimes when we're walking home from the bar."

This got the said light quite a few stares.

"ALRIGHT!" Malik shouted hurriedly before his dark side could embarrass him further, "We're straying from the topic," he turned to face the man, "Now, tell us, who the hell are you?"

Thankfully, the man entertained his question, thus driving all the other's attention back to where it was supposed to be.

"Maximillion Pegasus, head of Industrial Illusions, and inventor of Duel Monsters. I hosted the Tournament held on Duelist Kingdom—"

"Which I won," Yami Yugi nodded.

"—yes, well, it's similar to Battle City—"

"Which I won…again."

"Hey, I deserve some credit too you know," Yugi piped up, a bit dejectedly.

"Sorry, Yugi."

Yami Malik growled and muttered something to his light side, "_I_ would've won if it weren't for you picking the worst of times to be selfless and all goody."

Malik gave an indignant huff. "Well—!"

"_Ahem_, anyways…yes, Battle City, that's how I know you two. You gave us all quite a show, with all those darkness and hatred stuff. Amazing. I wish I had you two in my Tournament, the fans always love an antagonist...and all those angsty pasts and such; a bonus those are—"

"Okay, okay, we get it," Yami Bakura cut in through Pegasus' rambling, quite frankly tired of him praising the Egyptian pair about being a great villain, "So, why are you here anyways? I doubt you're here for Kaiba's tea party…"

"A tea party? Oh no, not at all," Pegasus shook his head, "Kaiba-boy here, called me some time ago and said that you boys needed someone to teach you how you should act for Mr. Dream's party, and since I don't really have anything better to do, I agreed to do this little favor for him."

A stunned silence reigned for a moment.

Surprisingly, it was Ryou who first spoke, "_Y-You're_ going to teach us…how to act gay?"

Pegasus smiled.

All of the lights and darks snapped their heads towards Seto. Yugi, and Ryou, along with their darks had wide unbelieving eyes. Malik and his dark however, not really knowing Pegasus as well as the others, simply looked surprised.

Yami Malik leaned towards Malik's ear, "I told you he was going to hire someone."

Yami Yugi was looking at Seto as if he was crazy. In truth, Seto couldn't blame him, he himself was starting to question his sanity for bringing Pegasus out of all people into their little predicament.

"Kaiba," the former pharaoh said, "If you think, for even _one _second, that I'm—" he breathed, then, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING BRINGING _PEGASUS _INTO THIS?"

Yugi gripped his partner's arm and gave it a small squeeze, "Calm down," he whispered.

Yami Yugi visibly relaxed but his eyes still bore a hole in Seto's head.

Pegasus gave him a pitiful look, "Oh, Yugi-boy—or the _other_ Yugi boy, if you prefer. I thought we were in good terms now?"

"We are. But I'm about as keen to having you as our…'trainer' as I am to having Malik or Bakura's dark sides as m-my bed-buddy!"

Yami Malik and Yami Bakura blinked.

"What was that suppose to mean?" Yami Bakura said.

"Uh…I don't really know…" Ryou said, he himself staring at Yami Yugi dubiously.

"Oh, come on," Seto said irritably, rising up. He was frankly getting tired of all this. Can't the others just _accept _his choice of a 'tutor'? They were just wasting time with all these squabbles and arguments when they could be starting right now with the preparations for his plan. "I probably have the highest IQ in this whole room—"

Yami Yugi opened his mouth to speak but Seto gave him a pointed look, saying, "Don't you _dare _contradict me."

He closed his mouth.

"And I think that none of you can equal me when it comes to things like this. I'm willing to bet my whole company that not one of your rotten brain cells could come with anyone other than Pegasus who can be a better help in this situation when I myself could not."

The whole room was silent in the course of Seto's short speech. Pegasus was wondering if he should feel proud that Seto thought he was the best man for the 'job' or not, considering what said job actually was.

"What about Otogi?" Yugi sad timidly.

Seto glared at him and said, "We want you to act _gay _not _girly_."

"Ah…"

He pinned the others under his gaze, "Any _other _objections?"

When no one spoke for the next ten seconds, Seto straightened up. "Well, now that we have that settled, let's move on," he nodded to Pegasus, "As I've made it clear, Pegasus is to be your 'trainer' of a sort in the field of…gayness—" they all stared at him—"and other than that, _I'm_ going to teach you all the proper mannerisms you are to observe while in Dream's presence. He's sure to be expecting all of you to be gentlemen or something, and since you're obviously nothing of the sort, I'm willing to take it upon myself to make sure you don't disappoint him."

Yami Bakura's eyes were glazed, "Mannerisms? What the hell?"

Seto looked at him, "Carlos Dream is a wealthy man, and wealthy men, like yours truly, do not really hold credibility to someone who behaves beneath the level of their expectations. I don't even know how I can stand being with some of you, actually."

"Fine, fine, no need to get nasty."

"Anyways, be here tomorrow. Same time, same place. We'll start our preparations then, and _don't _be late."

There were a few nods all around the room.

Seto smiled, "Alright then. Well…feel free to go anytime now."

They simultaneously rose up from their seats and made their way to the door.

"Oh, wait," Pegasus suddenly said, "Here, I made our lesson plan, you could look over it when you have time" he smiled and started handing out a bunch of folders to all of them.

Kaiba looked at Pegasus with a mixed expression of disbelief and wonder, "You _made _a _lesson plan_?"

"Oh, Kaiba-boy, you honestly can't expect me to sit around and do nothing all day, so I decided to do something productive. Here, I made one for you too."

As Seto took the folder, not without caution, the others were already reading its contents.

There was a collective silence as they scanned a few pages.

It was Yami Malik who said what all of them were thinking; "What the _freaking hell _is this?"

Seto, who hasn't opened his folder yet, finally flipped through some of the papers. His eyebrow rose higher and higher as he read.

**I. Appearances  
-_should you go for FEMININE or MASCULINE?_**

**II. Behavior  
-_what to DO and NOT DO_**

**III. Seduction  
_-get his COMPLETE attention  
(over 100 creative, original, and unpredictable attention-grabbing ways)_**

**IV. Relationships  
-_see if you've got what it takes to DOMINATE or if not, see how you'd do if you decided to be SUBMISSIVE in your relationship_**  
_**-how to make them WORK**_  
**_(make that straight guy you've got your eyes on question his sexual preference)_**

And on and on it went. Seto stared at Pegasus and looked at the others who had expressions akin to horror in their faces.

"Um…this is all so…eh," Yugi said unsurely, trying to get out what was in his mind without sounding too freaked out about Pegasus' enthusiasm.

"We're not planning on being gay for the rest of our lives you know!" Malik cried out brandishing the papers in front of Pegasus' face.

"Oh, don't take it that way, Malik-boy!"

Malik visibly cringed at being addressed like this.

"What better way to make Mr. Dream believe you're all homosexuals than by understanding, and thinking like one, eh? Just make sure that it's _still _pretending alright?" he winked.

Malik glared at him for a few seconds before, stomping out of the room, the others staring after him.

"DARKSIDE, WE'RE GOING HOME. GET DOWN HERE!" they heard him call after several seconds.

Yami Malik sighed and gave the others an _almost _apologetic look. A smirk was present in his face as he said, "He's very sensitive," before walking out himself.

"Well…wasn't that interesting?" Yami Bakura said.

-----------------------

**Hope it was alright for you guys. I basically had the lesson plan thing strike me on-the-spot so it wasn't that well-thought out. Heh, I honestly just came out with all of it out of the blue.**

**I am, however, open for suggestions for the lessons which will start in the next chapter. **

**Comments are of course, welcome too.**


	5. Chapter 5: Let's Get Started

**Here is where we start our boys' 'preparations'. A Happy New Year everybody!**

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Chapter 5:

Let's Get Started

-----------

Yugi has had his share of strange and altogether unsettling experiences. How could you not, when your body hosts the ancient spirit of a pharaoh after all. He'd faced life-threatening situations, nearly had his own spirit sacrificed to the darkness (courtesy of a certain tanned Egyptian dark), and been turned to his favorite duel monster card at one point in Duelist Kingdom (this time courtesy of Yami Bakura). It seemed impossible for his life to get any more unusual as it is.

Of course…this was soon proven wrong. Never in his short life did Yugi expect to be faced in such an uncomfortable situation as he was having now. And though it was by no means as dangerous as any of his previously stated experiences, it was still…one of a kind, he guessed.

The question was repeated once more, "Yugi? I could be the one on top or bottom, whatever you feel comfortable with…"

But Yugi was not comfortable, not at all. He merely stared at his dark half, his mouth moving up and down but no sound coming out.

It was an innocent question, really; Yami Yugi, being the considerate person he was, was giving Yugi the choice of what 'position' each of them should adopt in their make-believe relationship.

Yugi almost felt like cursing Pegasus. Today was the first of their soon-to-be regular 'training course', and the very first thing the white-haired man had decided for them to tackle today were their false identities. They didn't really know why they needed one to start with, but Seto had been strangely persistent.

It seemed innocent enough, Yugi had first thought (he's scanned Pegasus' lesson plan last night and had been really worried about what the man had planned for them), but then Pegasus said, "But before that, I think we should settle just who's who in your relationships," at the boys' confused expressions, he clarified, "You know—who _gives _and _takes_? Who's seme and uke? Who screws and _gets_—"

Yugi had blushed red by then.

And that was when Yami Yugi had given him a pitying look and asked _that_ question which he _most definitely _couldn't find it in himself to answer. "What would you like, Yugi?"

Yami Bakura's face formed a sneer as he looked at the pair, "Pathetic," he said, and then turned to Ryou, "I'm sure you know that _I'm _not giving you a choice in this matter."

Ryou gave his other half a heated glare, but nonetheless stayed quiet.

Yami Bakura smirked, "Oh, come on, its all for the best! You know you couldn't be dominant in a relationship, even with a girl."

The thief watched in amusement as Ryou started sputtering nonsense.

Meanwhile Malik and Yami Malik were having an argument of their own.

"I don't know why you're being so picky about it," Malik frowned, "You're always bossing me around at home, why can't you give me the chance to be 'the boss' for once?"

Yami Malik looked down at his light and rolled his eyes, "It's not my fault you're a push-over."

"Excuse me?" Malik said in disbelief. He waved an arm towards Yugi and Ryou's direction, "If I'm a push-over, what does it make those two? HUH? WHEN HAVE _I _EVER BEEN A PUSH-OVER?"

Obviously, the dark side had struck a nerve.

Ryou, who was standing around three feet from the clearly enraged Egyptian, scooted away, temporarily forgetting his own squabble with his dark. Malik's angry outbursts were getting more and more frequent lately and though he couldn't really blame the other (since he pretty much felt like screaming in frustration too), he decided to play it safe and stay away from Malik incase the other boy started getting violent.

However, Yami Malik remained unfazed by his light's outburst, probably used to it by now, and said in a deceptively reasonable tone, "Honestly, Lightside," he jerked his head at the others in the room, "Let's ask them shall we?"

"…What?"

Yami Malik said nothing but turned to face Yugi and Ryou along with their other halves, "Oi, can you picture _Malik _on top of _me_?"

Malik's lavender eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The others' expressions were not unlike his, even Seto, who'd been looking over everyone with disinterest with his usual emotionless mask, looked very much disturbed by the Egyptian dark's colorful question.

Pegasus looked absolutely delighted, "That's right. Really get into your act. Use mental imagery if you have too, all the more convincing!"

Yami Bakura looked at him like he was insane, pupils dilated.

Yami Malik just ignored this though and considering the others' silence as a 'No' and turned to his light, "See? They can't even _imagine _you being dominant."

Ryou looked at Yami Bakura. The spirit had a blank out-of-it expression on.

"Yami…?"

The other seemed to snap out of it, he blinked and looked at Yami Malik, "Well…I can imagine it the _other _way around," he said in a surprisingly casual voice, causing everyone's head to snap towards him. Now even Pegasus looked a bit unnerved.

Malik gaped at the thief. Yami Malik on the other hand merely nodded appreciatively at Yami Bakura's input and said, "Believe me now?"

Malik didn't speak at all for quite a while after that.

"Well…I think I speak for everyone when I say that we should _move on _into a different topic some time soon?" Seto said, directing the implied order to Pegasus.

"Oh! Of course," he answered immediately, "You could…eh…settle this later on among yourselves…yes…"

All the lights nodded except for Malik. The poor boy was staring forward with a blank look on his face.

"Alright then! Well, we're going to assign you some identities now since it would be inappropriate if you three introduce yourself as dark spirits to Mr. Dream," he said while looking at the three darks.

Seto nodded in approval. "Yes. You could choose your own names since Dream would probably wonder why you're named Yami-whoever. And besides, you technically don't exist so we'll have to make a personal file for all of you."

"But I like my name…" Yami Yugi said in a disappointed manner.

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow at him, "You don't even _have _a name, Name_less_ Pharaoh."

"Shut up."

"I want my name to be Marik."

Seto looked at him skeptically, "Marik?"

Yami Malik only nodded, completely ignoring Malik's confused gaze, "But that's—"

"Alright then, Marik it is," Seto said, taking note of it in his head, "Surname?"

"Eh…Ishtar?"

"You can't have the same surname as Malik…I don't think Dream's a fan of incest…"

"Oh…right. How about…Ishtal?"

Malik was about to retort, "Hey, you can't—"

"Marik Ishtal…" Seto cut in again, trying out the name, "Well, if that's your final decision."

Malik was looking a bit peeved and said, "But that's almost like _my _name. He just interchanged the _l_ with _r_ and vice versa! Wouldn't this Dream guy eh…see that as somewhat strange?"

Seto shrugged, "I don't see any reason why he should be, just say it was a coincidence or make up some kind of romantic story if you have to."

The young blonde blanched.

The CEO smirked to himself; he got to admit, this little deception play was giving him quite an entertainment. Better than TV at least.

Suddenly, Yami Bakura's voice said, "I want mine to be Bakura…_Bakura Ryou_."

Ryou looked at his other half dubiously, and in the same protesting tone Malik had used before said, "But that's _my _name, just reversed."

"Well…_Marik_ just reversed the letters in Malik's name, why can't I do the same with the words with yours?" Yami Bakura said in a firm and questioning voice. However, it was obvious that he was not going to change his mind.

"But people call _me_ 'Bakura'," Ryou said.

"So? Just make them call you 'Ryou'. _I _call you Ryou. I'm sure your friends, no matter how stupid they are, could at least do _that_."

Seto snorted, "Just make sure you don't get Dream suspicious," he said warningly.

Yugi looked away from Seto and Yami Bakura's conversation and turned to his other self. He wondered what name his partner would pick.

Yami Yugi looked thoughtful. What could his name be? He recalled Yami Malik and Yami Bakura's—or rather, _Marik _and _Bakura's _choices. In a way, that's not entirely that hard to see, both had chosen a name that still connects them to their lighter halves, whether this was intentional or not, Yami Yugi didn't know. But one thing he _did _know was that he wanted the same with Yugi.

He also decided that he liked his name just fine.

"I'm keeping mine," he said to Seto.

The look at him questioningly, "Keeping what?"

"My name—Yami Yugi," he said in a tone that brook no argument.

Yugi looked fairly surprised at this, and looked up at his other half. Yami Yugi noticed this and said, "But if you don't want—"

The smaller boy's eyes widened, "Oh! No, it's really alright…Yami. I even like it too," he said with a reassuring smile.

Yami Yugi positively beamed.

"Alright then," Seto said finally. He took out his laptop and started typing, his fingers almost looked blurred as it raced over the keyboard. "I'll just make your biography and Pegasus could guide you on to our next step."

Pegasus took the simultaneous nods all around the room as the signal to assume his role as the boys' trainer once more. A smile was present in his face as he said, "Let's get started."

---------

"_Smile_, Bakura, _smile_!"

Yami Bakura, now dubbed as Bakura Ryou, gritted his teeth in obvious irritation. He decided to hate Pegasus starting this very moment. He had expected the man to start with the simple stuff, like clothes, or speaking gay, or _walking _gay, or something like that. Unfortunately, Pegasus said that he felt like that it would be best if they start with the _couples _stuff first, since they'd be sort of applying it to whatever they'd be doing.

And that is how Bakura found himself seated beside Ryou, with his arms around the milder-looking boy's shoulders.

A few meters in front of them were Pegasus and Seto, who seemed to have taken the task of 'judging' whether they were doing a convincing act or not.

Seto allowed himself a smirk at the—dare he say it—_cute _picture the two white-haired boys projected. He made sure to capture a picture of the two with the high-tech surveillance camera coincidently placed perfectly at one corner of the room. You never know when blackmail material would come in handy, especially when dealing with someone like Bakura.

"Someone's looking constipated…" came Marik's drawl from the side.

Bakura made to snarl back when Seto said, "He's right, Bakura. You're suppose to _enjoy _holding the one you love."

Ryou blushed faintly at this.

Bakura glared heatedly, "Shut the hell up."

Seto merely rolled his eyes heavenward and said, "Whatever," he waved for them to stand up, "I honestly didn't expect you to be good at this as, say, Yami and Yugi was."

"No one acts as gay as those two, even before this stupid thing," he said hotly, withdrawing his arm from his light's shoulders and stomping off with a still-red Ryou following close behind.

Yugi turned red whilst his partner glared at his fellow dark.

Ignoring the hostility in the air, Pegasus motioned the Egyptian pair over, "Your turn boys. Show us how you _feel_ about each other."

Marik sauntered over and sat, patting the space beside him whilst smiling mischievously at his light. Malik looked slightly perturbed but sat nonetheless.

"Alright, now one arm over—"

Marik and Malik simultaneously tried to get an arm around each other. A glare was exchanged between the two and Marik said, eyes glinting, "_I'm _the dominant one, remember?"

"I don't think so," was Malik's equally heated reply, not removing his arm from around Marik's back.

Seto and Pegasus watched with amusement as the two tried to stare each other down, neither moving at all. Seto was about to yell at the two to stop this nonsense when Bakura loudly said, "A light challenging its dark!" he laughed, "You're losing your touch Marik."

Clearly enraged by this, Marik whipped his head around to glare at the other boy. "NO WAY IN HELL!" he screamed. Bakura simply smirked.

He then turned back to pin his 'challenging light' with a furious glare. In a flash, he had jerked Malik's tan arm off him whilst tightening his own hold on the other's shoulder. Before Malik could react, Marik had brought his free hand behind his light's head and brought it closer with such force that he basically _rammed _Malik's head into his chest.

The slighter boy's yelp was muffled as and his arms flailed madly whilst Marik kept their position, shouting, "You're going to be uke and that's final, Lightside! Now _I'm_ gonna be the one to have their arm around your shoulder and you can't do anything about it!"

Malik, with his face pressed flat against his dark side's chest only gave a muffled yell in response, squirming wildly.

Marik's eyes darkened and he held the other tighter, this time yelling, "STOP SQUIRMING! WE'RE GOING TO CUDDLE AND _YOU'RE_ GOING TO LIKE IT, DAMNNIT!"

Yami looked at the disturbing scene before him, and couldn't help but feel grateful that his relationship with Yugi wasn't _this _demented. Beside him, Yugi felt very much the same. It was clear that the pair had issues.

Seto watched as Malik twisted and turned in his dark's grip whilst said dark was shouting things like, "START CUDDLING!"

This was worse than Ryou and Bakura…far _more _worse, he corrected himself, as Malik actually started to bite Marik's shirt, in an attempt to hurt or maybe make Marik let him go, like some feral animal with a stormy inhumane look on his face.

At the background, Bakura was cheering, "Whoop! Now this is what I call 'hard love'. Get him Malik!" as Ryou tried in vain to shush him, probably worried that one of the currently rabid Egyptians would go for them if provoked.

Seto ran a hand tiredly over his face. Well…he never expected this to be easy…

----------------

**Well there you go. Did this in one sitting since I was feeling strangely inspired for some reason.**

**Now…just to clear things up, Yami Yugi, Yami Bakura, and Yami Malik will from now on be referred to as Yami, Bakura, and Marik respectively since they had their name changed in this chapter. Hope this doesn't confuse you.**

**Look at all those _sweet _moments (snickers).**

**BTW just a question guys, but I've suddenly stopped receiving review alerts in my e-mail. I don't know what's wrong since I have it 'enabled' and all. Any way to fix this?**


	6. Chapter 6: Let's Hold Hands

**I got a little carried away in this chapter, that's why it's a bit long (around 3000 words I think). Sorry about that! Just consider the added length as a 'thank you' to all your wonderful reviews last chapter. I hope you manage to read through it…**

--------------------

Chapter 6:

Let's Hold Hands

---------

Marik ate his salad in a brutal fashion. He was basically stabbing the tomatoes, leaves of lettuces, and thin rings of onions in a murderous rage. Sitting across him was Malik, who was pretty much acting the same way himself.

The two Egyptians looked worn out. Malik was nursing a slightly bleeding lip, and a sore nose, not to mention a very colorful bruise on one of his shoulders. His purple shirt was in ripped at the side and the boy had to take care of his movement incase the tear would even grow larger. Sure he had a couple more of these at home, but he wasn't really willing to prance around shirtless around Seto's mansion. They weren't done with the day's 'lessons' yet.

Marik was not much in a better shape. The dark was sporting some scratch marks along his arms and quite a few _bite _marks as well (courtesy of Malik), and his black sleeveless shirt was ripped at the front, where his dear light had literally tore with his teeth.

Yes, the air was extremely tense around those two, and though both have calmed down considerably than before, it was obvious that they weren't planning on getting along anytime soon.

Malik glared at his other self, and said in a low voice, "You ripped my shirt."

Marik glared back, "Well," he said, "You ripped mine too…with your _teeth_."

Yami wisely ushered Yugi to slide a bit farther from the two; no need for them to get involved when they can avoid it.

Seeing this, Ryou made to follow the others' example. He slid his plate slightly to the left, away from Malik, and was about to motion to Bakura to do the same, but stopped when he saw that mischievous smirk on his dark's face.

Oh no, Ryou thought.

"Hey, Marik," Bakura started with a casual air. The other dark dragged his eyes away from Malik and pinned Bakura with his glare instead. The thief was unperturbed, "What are all those red marks on your skin?"

Marik gritted his teeth, "They're scratches…what else do they look like?"

Bakura pretended to think about this for a moment, ignoring Ryou's silent pleas for him to just shut up (the boy was miming zipping his lips). "Well...some of them are bite marks right?"

"So? What's your point?" came the clearly irritated answer. Bakura was _really _testing his patience.

The other allowed himself a smirk before saying, "Are some of them _hickies_?"

Marik reacted immediately, with an angry cry, he had lunged at Bakura, ready to strangle him for all he's worth. Unfortunately, the thief got up from his chair just in time, causing Marik to crash into the empty seat instead.

This only fueled his anger more. He got up and shouted, "I'M GOING TO TAKE YOUR DAMN TONGUE OUT, WASH IT WITH SOAP, AND THEN FORCE IT DOWN YOUR SLIMY THROAT! LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN STILL BE A FREAKING SMARTASS THEN!"

"Hehe," Bakura snickered, leaping away easily from Marik's grasp, "Damn, Marik. I didn't know you and Malik were taking this gay stuff _this _seriously! Where else has Malik been 'biting' you, huh?"

Yami looked on worriedly, shielding an extremely wide-eyed Yugi behind him. The two had abandoned their seats (and food) the moment the crazed Egyptian leaped from his seat and were now huddled at the corner of the room.

Ryou was in hysterics, "Ah! Bakura! Stop right now!"

Malik was still sitting at the table, a fork frozen in mid-stab at his half-eaten plate of salad.

Knowing that Ryou's pleading cries would only fall on deaf ears, Yami decided to take matters in his own hands. Or rather, take it in his own hands, and _then _pass it to another who can probably take care of things better than himself.

"I'm going to call Kaiba before things get worse," he told Yugi.

The smallest light looked up at him, "Y-You're l-leaving me here with _t-them_?" he said fearfully.

"Eh…" he hesitated, "Alright, why don't yougo find Kaiba then? I'll stay here and…" he looked at Ryou, who was currently screaming at the pair of darks who were rolling on the floor, "See what I can do…"

Yugi nodded as he rushed out of the room, but not before saying, "Don't worry, Yami! I'll find Kaiba as fast as I can!"

As soon as his light left, Yami released a sigh and turned back to watch the (very brutal) fight. In truth, he wasn't really worried about Marik or Bakura getting hurt, he assumed the two enjoy pain. He was more worried abut the damage the pair was causing to the room. Not even five minutes and they've managed to break anything that was breakable within a six foot radius from themselves. Seto wouldn't be happy.

"By the way, isn't it the _uke _who gets 'marked'?"

This only earned another furious shout from Marik as he tackled Bakura in a fit of frenzy. However, since Bakura was too preoccupied raising hell, he didn't notice that they've come dangerously close to Malik's still unmoving figure, the same could be said with Marik, who was too busy thinking of a way to send the tomb robber to hell the moment he has the chance.

"Malik! Look out!" Ryou shouted to warn his friend.

Malik blinked, but before he can do anything else, he found a flurry of two tangled bodies (one tanned and one pale) coming at him. With an 'Oof!' the poor boy was pushed none-too-gently out of his chair, and was soon pinned down by the combined weight of his dark and Ryou's.

Ryou gasped and rushed over at the groaning pile, Yami close behind him. Apparently, the fall did not go well with the two darks too. Marik was the luckiest, having ended up on top, he gave a small pained moan and rolled to the side, freeing Bakura from his 'sandwiched' position between the two Egyptians.

"Ah, good thing Malik here was there to break our fall," said the white-haired dark, getting up.

"Idiot," Yami said.

Malik groaned from his lying position on the floor, and muttered something alone the lines of, "Damn you to hell," before sitting up with a painful wince; his already bruised shoulder has just taken another beating from that fall. Noticing this, Ryou gladly lent a hand to pull the Egyptian up, which said boy took gratefully.

When he was sure that Malik was alright, Ryou turned to Bakura, eyes sparkling with anger.

"Look what you've done!" he said accusingly.

Though slightly taken aback by his normally-quiet light's tone, Bakura didn't let it show.

"I told you not to get Marik riled up!" Ryou continued, this time a bit louder, "And don't say you didn't see me motioning for you to stop! Because I know you did!"

Bakura merely snorted, "It's not my fault he couldn't take a joke," he said, jerking his head at Marik's still prone figure. The Egyptian dark was holding his head in pain, probably having bumped it quite hard during the fight, and muttering curses under his breath.

"Hmph, are you saying _you _can?" Yami asked in an accusing tone.

"Well…"

Malik turned away from the conversation and looked at his dark side. Marik was sitting up, but a hand was still held onto his forehead. Though he wasn't exactly on good terms with his dark at the moment, Malik felt that it was his obligation to at least make sure his other self was still in his right mind (or whatever state of mind Marik normally has), one could never be too careful with an unbalanced psychopath.

"It hurts, huh?" but no way in hell was he going to act concerned.

"Damn floor was too damn hard…" Marik growled, rubbing his still-aching head.

Malik rolled his eyes and refrained himself from making a smart comment.

When the pain subsided, Marik squinted at the scene before him. It sounded like Bakura and Ryou were having a sparring match, with the latter surprisingly winning. Suddenly realizing something, he grinned and inched closer to Bakura. Said boy was totally unaware of this, his attention focused solely on his nearly hyperventilating light.

Marik was just about to grab Bakura's leg when a new voice spoke in the room, "What the hell is going on here?"

They looked at the doorway and found an irate Seto Kaiba, with a panting Yugi in his wake. The taller of the two stepped forward with his usual air of authority, pinning each individual with a look before speaking once more, "First Marik and Malik, and then Yugi here tells me Bakura and Marik were attempting to murder each other…not to mention trashing my waiting room," he muttered to himself, noticing the broken vases and upturned chairs around them. Some of those present wondered why Seto had a waiting room in his mansion in the first place, but wisely kept it to themselves as their brown-haired host continued, "And now I see you two on the verge of tearing each other's faces off!"

Ryou had the decency to blush and mutter an apology but Bakura's face remained indifferent.

Seto ran a hand through his hair in an exasperated manner, "Mokuba's probably more mature than all of you put together…" he muttered.

Yami seemed to want to retort at that moment, but after receiving a look from his partner, held his tongue.

A frustrated sigh escaped his lips, "Anyways, Pegasus has everything set up for…whatever he has planned, so I suggest you move your behinds right this second or I just _might _decide to charge you all for the damages you've caused."

Needless to say, all of lights and darks heeded his command. No way in hell were they paying Seto anything, the general value of the contents of any one of the rooms in Seto's mansion could likely be worth more than their entire house!

------------

The numerous fights and conflicts before did nothing to hinder Pegasus' enthusiasm though. As soon as he boys entered their 'training room' (which was basically one of the mansion's spare rooms which Pegasus had furnished with stuff they'd need in their lessons), he had ushered the boys to a row of six chairs, smiling all the way as he did so.

Now standing in front of the boys, Pegasus started, "Now…we were suppose to do this before the break you just had…but due to certain complications…" he glanced at Marik and Malik, whom were both seated at each of the far ends of the seats, "We didn't have time for it."

"Oh, just tell us what we're supposed to do so we can get over it," Bakura said impatiently, earning a warning glare from Ryou at his side.

Pegasus didn't seem to mind, "Of course, of course. Well, the next thing we'd be tackling will be easy, I don't think we'd have any…'domination' problems since both of you would be doing the same thing."

"And that will be?" Yami prompted.

The older man smiled, "Holding hands."

The reactions to these two words were immediate and varied.

"What the fu—"

"Bakura! Watch your mouth."

"That doesn't sound too bad…"

"No way in hell am I going to—"

"Do you think _I _like holding your hand?"

"I'm alright with it."

Seto watched as Pegasus attempted to calm them all, ready to interfere should any problems occur.

"Now, now, children," Pegasus said in a reasonable tone, "This is _basic _stuff. Remember; you're a couple! People would find it strange if you walk a foot apart from each other when you claim to be in a relationship, wouldn't they?"

"That's what you said last time with the arms-around-the-shoulder thing," Marik grumbled, "And look where that got me! Malik ruined my flawless arms!"

Malik glared at his dark side, even though the other was a bit far away, "Flawless arms my ass…"

"Oh come now, people," Pegasus said, still in that optimistic tone of his, "Let's start now, shall we?"

Though there were a few mumbled curses here and there, as well as growls of annoyance, all boys piped down after a while.

"Excellent," he said. He looked at Yami and Yugi, "You two first as always."

Both boys offered no trouble as they positioned themselves at the place Pegasus was pointing at. Looking down, Yugi noticed a red line, probably colored tape, laid out just a couple of inches before his and his dark's feet.

"Now, all you have to do is walk, while holding hands, from that point to there," Pegasus pointed at another red line that was around ten meters away from their starting point. "Like before, me and Kaiba-boy—" Seto cringed involuntarily at this point, "—will see whether you're doing a good job. Alright?"

Yami and Yugi nodded.

"And just a tip…don't walk too fast, relax, imagine you're taking a nice stroll at the park; no rushing, no worries," Pegasus said, "Start whenever you're ready."

Yami let out a deep breath and held out his hand to Yugi. The smaller boy hesitated for a moment before placing his smaller hand in his other self's. He felt his face redden when Yami tightened his grip slightly. This didn't feel _too _bad, Yugi thought.

"Alright, Yugi?" Yami said gently. "We'll go whenever you're ready."

Yugi gave a small smile and nodded.

Yami took the first step, with Yugi following a mere second later. It didn't seem so hard, they both thought. Though it felt as if Yami was taking the lead in a way, Yugi didn't mind at all, sometimes, the pharaoh's 'leadership' tendencies starts making itself known automatically, with or without Yami's intention of it doing so.

"I feel like one of those women in those fashion shows at TV…" Yami mumbled lowly as they walked in a straight line towards the other end.

Hearing this, Yugi gave a slight giggle before whispering back "Does it make you feel girly, Yami?"

Yami looked at his light and said in a mocked shocked tone, "Yugi!"

"The pharaoh's whispering sweet nothings at Yugi's ear. How _adorable_," Bakura said loudly, snickering.

Yugi blushed and looked down, whilst Yami took on the task of glaring at the tomb robber and mouthing, 'Shut up'. Aside from the minor drawback, both boys managed to finish their 'walk' splendidly, earning praises from Pegasus.

Seto nodded in approval, "The 'sweet nothings' were a nice effect too."

Yami decided not to comment.

"Well, you next, Bakura-boys!" Pegasus said excitedly.

Bakura stomped towards the starting point, poor Ryou sighing exasperatedly before following behind. Once more, Pegasus sad, "Whenever you're ready."

Scowling, Bakura looked down at his light and thrust out his hand, "Just grab on and let me handle everything."

Ryou rolled his eyes before gripping the other's hand, "You don't need to _handle_ anything, Bakura. It's easy if you'd just stop making things difficult for the both of us," seeing that the other remained silent, Ryou continued, "All we have to do is _walk _from here to there, you don't have to _enjoy _it."

Bakura glared and immediately walked forward, making Ryou stumble at the first feet or two. His grip on the other's hand was hard, but he didn't really care.

"Now, now, Bakura-boy!" they heard Pegasus say, "You're not supposed to drag your partner around! Your walking should be in-sync, side-by-side too."

Gritting his teeth, Bakura slowed down his pace, Ryou taking his place by his side where he should be.

They've managed to cover a few more feet when Ryou spoke, "This doesn't seem so bad now, does it?"

Bakura glared at him briefly before facing forward once more. "I still don't like it."

Ryou sighed, "I didn't say you have—"

"_I don't like it_."

"Fine, fine…"

After their performance Pegasus commented, "Well…it's a little more stiff than what I prefer, but acceptable, I guess. And, Bakura-boy?"

Bakura glared. "_What_?"

"_Smile_."

"Smile? _SMILE?_" the boy shouted in barely-contained rage.

Pegasus turned to the last pair and grinned, "Well, boys? Care to make up for your last…eh…"

Both Egyptians stood up in a huff, and upon arriving at their starting point, glared whole-heartedly at each other, hardly the picture of a harmonious couple.

They barely took notice of Pegasus' "Whenever you're ready."

Marik's mouth slowly formed a malicious smile, making Malik wonder what was going on that demented head of his. "Well, come on, _Malik_."

He grabbed Malik's hand himself without waiting for the other to extend it, before marching forward with the poor boy mercilessly dragged behind. Thinking that this was another 'dominant' act the other was pulling, Malik buried his heels on the floor, shouting, "No you don't! We're going to do this right, whether you like it or not!"

Marik ignored his shouts and continued forward, attempting to drag his light with him.

"Ugh! MARIK!"

"What the hell's your problem!" the dark turned around, "If you expect me to act like his majesty and whisper nonsense in your ears—"

Yami started to protest, "Hey! For your information, I was—"

But Marik heeded him no mind, "—or that goddamned tomb robber and act all understanding—"

This time Bakura shouted, "_Understanding? _Marik—!"

"—THEN YOU'RE WRONG!" he roared.

"WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT?" Malik roared back, "I THINK BAKURA AND _YAMI _WOULD MAKE A BETTER BOYFRIEND THAN YOU! HELL, I EVEN ENVY RYOU AND YUGI!"

Said lights shifted in their seats.

Marik's eyes narrowed dangerously, "So that's how it is, huh…"

Despite himself, Malik blinked, "What?"

Marik released his grip from his light's hand, now turning around fully and giving his counterpart a disgusted look, "I should've known…"

By now, all the boys were looking at him with confused expressions.

He continued, "I've always wondered why you spend so much time with Bakura…" said white-haired boy looked suspiciously at the other dark, wondering what this is about, "And you've always had that obsession with the pharaoh…" Yami's brow furrowed. Marik's eyes narrowed into slits, "You really are gay, aren't you Lightside? And I guess your coming on to Bakura and Yami, you've probably been waiting for your moment to jump them all this time!" he declared, pointing a shaking finger at his light side.

Malik's eyes widened to an extent that it wasn't even funny. Bakura and Yami were looking at said boy, not knowing how to react to Marik's accusation. On the side, Seto had his cell phone posed on his ear, ready to contact security if the situation would turn out as badly as he was predicting.

Seeing his chance, Marik smirked and grabbed his other's hand, noting with satisfaction that Malik wasn't making any resistance whatsoever as he pulled his light almost gently across the finish line.

When done, Marik patted Malik's head, "But don't worry Lightside, I still _love _you."

And with that, Marik walked casually away towards the door, upon passing Yami and Bakura's shocked frozen faces he rolled his eyes and said, "If you haven't caught on yet, that wasn't true…as far as I know," he mumbled, "And like hell if my Lightside ever takes an interest in someone like you two..." and he disappeared out the door.

Malik crumpled to the floor a second later. Yugi and Ryou looked at their darks with concern, since they didn't seem that far from fainting themselves.

------------

When Seto ran the course of that day in his head, it only served to give him a headache. It wouldn't have been so bad if Marik and Malik would stop their senseless squabble with one another. Ryou and Bakura were…alright he, guessed, apart from that time when they were shouting at each other's faces at the waiting room. But so far, only Yami and Yugi seemed to have the chance of convincing Dream that they're actually together (and not out to kill each other like a certain Egyptian pair).

If only there was some way to _make _them really put an effort on their acting. Some sort of incentive…but what? What could be impossible for Marik and Bakura to resist (since it seemed that it was the two darks who were more of the problem), that they'd be extremely willing to cooperate…

Seto sighed, well, the two could never pass on the chance of proving that they're better than Yami…

As that thought crossed his mind, Seto's eyes widened, an idea sparking in his head. And what an idea it was, he smirked; now all he had to do was seek the assistance of their beloved pharaoh.

He wasn't going to give up on them yet.

--------------------

**I congratulate you for making it this far.**

**Erm, school's starting again next Monday so my usual regular updates might be hindered by then, but believe me when I say I'll try my best to stay alive on the internet. Hehe.  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Hugs All Around

**Here's the update as promised. We finally get a _tinny little bit _of action here. Another rather long chapter (longer than my usual at least).**

-----------------------------

Chapter 7:

Hugs All Around

---------

Yami carefully put down the phone, a very thoughtful look on his face. He had been quite surprised to hear Seto's voice when he had picked it up. And his disbelief only grew once the other started to talk about this plan he had that would no somehow force Marik and Bakura to get along with their lights and put an effort on what they're doing in no time.

Yami had started spluttering when Seto revealed his part in this so-called plan. "W-what—are you…insane? How do you even know if this will work?"

"Why won't it?" Seto had replied calmly.

"You should know better than to take advantage of Bakura or Marik like this! If they find out—"

"They _won't_. And what's your problem? All you have to do is to get them all riled up and then just let their pride do the rest."

He frowned. Yes, it did sound simple enough. In fact, truth be told, Yami had a knack for stirring up competition at any given situation. He shouldn't have any problem handling Bakura and Marik. And it was for the 'greater good', or…for the good of the plan at least.

----------

Marik glanced suspiciously at Yami. There was that mischievous glint in the pharaoh's eyes, and for some strange reason, it was making him rather nervous.

They were currently walking towards Seto's mansion, all three lights and darks. Marik would've preferred driving there, but Yami (for some strange reason), insisted that they walk, saying that it would do them good as some kind of exercise. Normally, he would've opposed the other's decision, but since Malik was being awfully moody after what happened yesterday and refused to lend him his motorcycle (they have agreed on sharing until they could buy another one), he didn't really have a choice.

The six boys were walking into two slightly-divided groups. Malik was giving Marik and Bakura the cold shoulder; Marik for his teasing and Bakura for egging Marik on through his smart comments on their 'relationship' and such, and so resorted to having Yugi and Ryou as his company.

Yami, Marik, and Bakura fell down at the back and merely listened at their lights' conversations every now and then, not really attempting to start one amongst themselves. However, when Marik noticed Yami's lips curl into a small smirk, his curiosity got the better of him and he spoke, "Alright, pharaoh. What's going on in that twisted brain of yours?"

Bakura looked curiously at the other two as Yami blinked.

"What?"

Marik narrowed his eyes, "You have that damn _proud _look on your face. Care to share your thoughts with us?"

Yami hesitated for a moment. He'd actually been thinking of Seto's scheme for the other darks. He already had a plan on his head, he was just thinking of the perfect time as to when he'll be making his first move. Come to think of it…this just seems to be his chance.

"Well…" he started, choosing his words carefully; baiting Marik was as dangerous as wandering into a cage of bloodthirsty lions. You never know when they're going to 'pounce'. "I've just been recalling the past few days or so…he-he. And I've got to say; this is probably the best time I've had in my entire…spiritual life!"

Bakura decided to join in. "You _enjoy _acting gay?" he said in wonder.

"No, idiot," Yami succeeded in restraining himself from hitting the other boy, "I mean, it's just so _amusing _to see you two _struggling _to make all these gay stuff work," he forced a laugh to make his amusement seem genuine, "I guess Duel Monsters isn't the only thing I'm better at than you."

Marik arched an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

Yami allowed himself a wicked smile, it seems that Marik's taking the bait, and by Bakura's slightly vexed expression, he is too. "I guess I'm just the best when it comes to acting. Heh, another one-up I have from you two. You're both _horrible _actors."

Bakura gave him a furious look, "Watch your mouth, pharaoh."

He smirked. Almost there…

"Oh, just admit it tomb robber," he said in a condescending tone, "If you've seen yourselves yesterday, by god, you'd probably be laughing your ass off. You look _so_ lost as to what to do. Though I guess you're better than Marik."

Marik clenched his fists, "Care to repeat that?"

"Well, at least Bakura _tries _to do what Pegasus says," Yami said, "You on the other hand…"

"I can act better than Bakura, hell; I could act better than _you_. I only prefer to reserve my skills when I'm actually dealing with something _worthwhile_, as opposed to acting for the sake of _oh-so-lovable_ Kaiba!"

Yami crossed his arms and grinned. They had now fully stopped walking, their lights however, oblivious to this little quarrel, continued on. Perfect. Seto had specifically said that it would be better if only the darks would be involved. Now Yami could fully take the situation into his hands.

"Hmph, spare me your excuses," he snorted, "Just say it. _I'm _better than you."

Bakura and Marik's faces were wearing identical murderous expressions. Both were trying their very best not to kill Yami on the spot, and were only barely succeeding.

Bakura breathed deeply "You're damn insane if you think that—"

"Care to prove it?" Yami interrupted. It was a subtle way of asking for a challenge, all three darks knew it. And Bakura and Marik were in no way even thinking about backing off. This was their chance to put that prideful pharaoh in his rightful place; beneath them…that sounded wrong.

"Alright, pharaoh," Marik finally said, "I'll bite."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Bakura said.

Yami expelled his feeling of triumph through a sly smile. Now all he had to do was push Bakura and Marik into the direction Seto intended them to go. "Well…if you could somehow top Yugi and my own 'performance', and probably have Pegasus _and _Seto compliment you…"

"What? We're gonna have to submit ourselves through all those lovey-dovey crap you and your host are _so_ fond of expressing to each other?" Bakura's lip curled into a disgusted grimace.

Preventing himself once more from smacking the tomb robber (since that would probably hazardous to his plan), he replied, "Well…can't say I'm surprised that you can't _handle_—"

"I CAN HANDLE PLENTY!"

"If that was so, then you won't have _any _problem acting that way now, won't you?"

Bakura fumed silently while Yami turned to Marik, "Well? What about you, Marik?"

Marik looked down at him, and in a confident voice said, "I can do anything you can—but better—no doubt about it."

Yami silently congratulated himself. Bakura and Marik were reacting to the challenge he posed as they had expected. He'd make sure to remember to collect his reward from Seto later.

"Hm, I'll be more convinced once you actually _show _me, instead of just saying that you can. Don't promise anything that you can't follow through."

"Trust me," Marik said lowly, "I _fully _intend to follow through my claim. If you can recall, Lightside has some potential with acting, seeing that he successfully fooled you gullible idiots into believing he was your _friend _at Battle City. So I won't be surprise if some of his 'talents' reflects on me."

Bakura scowled and then smirked, "Are you saying you and Malik are the same?"

"In some aspects, yes."

"So are you gay as well?"

Marik glared, "Lightside isn't gay, and _I _am definitely _not _as well. If anyone in this idiotic group of ours' sexuality is questionable, it should be _your _light."

Bakura snorted and waved Marik's barb off. "Oh please, Ryou's feminine, I admit, but he doesn't have gays running after him…unlike _someone_ I know. If you ask me, there must be some specific reason as to why those stalkers of Malik's think he's interested in guys…care to enlighten me?"

"You know as well as me that that's one-sided, Bakura," he said indignantly. "Malik's a hundred percent straight and I know it."

"And yet you tease him otherwise," Yami gave his own input.

"As you said; it's _teasing_, nothing more," Marik turned to the pharaoh and gave him a sharp look.

Bakura snorted, getting tired of the conversation, "Let's just get going. The sooner we get to Kaiba, the sooner we can show off just how _good _we actually are," with that, he turned away and started walking briskly after the light's disappearing forms. He was actually a bit _excited _with this little 'game' them darks seemed to have started. And it was the perfect opportunity to just prove how much better he was than that damned pharaoh in so many aspects (Marik as well, he guessed). All Yami was good for were games…and strategies probably, but that was all, the pharaoh was pretty much average in everything else. The only reason he was doing better in their preparations was because he had a more harmonious relationship with his light than his own and Marik's.

He smirked, maybe just this once, he'd lower himself to be pleasant towards Ryou. His host was generally an adapting person, and if the other found out that he was willingly going to cooperate in making their 'relationship' work, things would be a piece of cake by then.

-----------

"Yugi…your hair is in my face…"

Yugi laughed bashfully and moved his head slightly to the right, "Heh, sorry."

Yami patted him gently on the head with his free hand, "It's alright."

Pegasus was circling the two like a shark whilst Seto sat at his usual place at the sidelines, merely observing the two whilst he worked something out in his laptop. He was glancing at Marik and Bakura's direction every now and then, and was sure that Yami had been successful in carrying out the little task he had asked him to do yesterday. Both darks were paying rapt attention to Yugi and Yami, apparently sort of 'gathering information' for their turn later.

Seto grinned. They're going to need all the help they can get; Pegasus has planned their morning session for this day to be all about _hugging_. He had installed a digital camera on his computer just for this sure-to-be memorable event, no one would notice that he was conveniently taking pictures through his laptop now, would they?

The position Yami and Yugi were currently in wasn't that uncomfortable. Yugi had hugged his dark quite a number of times before so it really wasn't a big deal. But of course, Pegasus just had to make things harder for them.

"Hmm, very nice friendly hug. But that's the problem too; it's _friendly_. Remember, you two aren't friends, you're _lovers_," Pegasus said. He approached the two boys and took hold of Yami's wrist (the boy looked at him weirdly for a second) and pulled it so that his hand was positioned at the upper part of Yugi's back. "Your arms must be around here, below his arms, alright?"

Yami unsurely brought both his arms to wrap around his smaller light's back, "Eh…like this?"

"Yes, yes, very good," Pegasus then turned to Yugi. "Now as for you, Yugi-boy, since you're supposedly the submissive one in your relationship, your arms should wrap loosely just around Yami-boy's neck."

With a bit of trouble, Yugi managed to bring his arms around to encircle his dark's neck. It was a bit of a chore because of the one-head height difference, he had to stand a bit on his toes.

Seto took his very first picture, allowing himself a smirk as he did so. From the position the two were in, it looked like Yugi was just about to plant a smooch on Yami's face. Add the fact that Yami was slightly leaning forward (to make it easier for his light to bring his arms around him) and you could very well be convinced that they'd be _kissing _the next second. He wouldn't be worrying about owing Yami anything now, that is, if the pharaoh planned on keeping this certain picture of the internet. God knows what _that _would do to the Game King's reputation.

Pegasus took a few steps back to observe the picture they made and smiled, "Perfect as always, you two. My, even _I _can almost believe that you're actually together by the performance you've been gracing us with lately!"

The two boys weren't really sure as to what to make out from that compliment.

Bakura growled lowly, "'Perfect' my ass..." Though he had to admit that Yami and Yugi made a convincing picture. He ground his teeth in irritation. Damn it, the pharaoh obviously had an unfair advantage, Bakura thought, they probably do this hugging stuff all the time. His thoughts were interrupted by Pegasus.

"Bakura-boy, you're up next!"

Ryou was already standing up front waiting for him. With a determined look (noticed only by the darks and Seto), he walked forward and stood beside his light, looking up at Pegasus expectantly.

"Well?"

"Oh, eager today, aren't we?" the other laughed, "Very well then. Now, just hug the way you normally do and then we'll fix what needs to be fixed."

Ryou was a bit startled when Bakura encircled an arm around his back whilst the other took its place at the back of his head. Then ever-so-gently, Bakura pulled Ryou towards him and rested his chin on top of his light's head. The smaller boy blinked for a moment before finally regaining his senses and wrapping his own arms around Bakura. He had to admit, hugging his dark was strangely comfortable.

Meanwhile, Bakura was trying his best not to react to Marik and Malik's shocked looks. Malik's eyes were wide and unbelieving, why the hell was Bakura acting this way? Marik was just as surprised, but for an entirely different reason, he'd have to think of some way to top the tomb robber's performance. Yugi personally thought the two white-haired boys looked cute, while Yami maintained a neutral expression, slightly amused by Bakura's determination to prove he was better than himself.

Ryou's hair was quite soft, Bakura noticed, and he didn't smell that bad at all. Heh, trust his light to fret over his hygiene and stuff like that.

"Bakura, stop sniffing my hair."

Drats.

Seto was taking pictures with his laptop, still unnoticed by anyone.

"Well…" Pegasus said faintly, "This is _definitely _a large improvement from our previous sessions…"

Ryou, who had his head resting on Bakura's shoulder (where the other was holding it in place), looked up, "Eh…thank you?" not entirely sure why his dark was acting like this as well, but nonetheless glad that he didn't have to persuade the other for actually doing _something_ for once.

"Why if this continues, I'd bet you'll even have Dream more convinced than Yugi-boy and his dark!"

Bakura smirked. Ha! He got Pegasus to compliment him, and the man also hinted that they were better than Yugi and the pharaoh! He's going to win this little contest of theirs for sure.

"Well done, well done!" Pegasus clapped jovially, "Now," he turned to face Marik and Malik, "Let's see if you two…err, have improved as well!"

Bakura removed his hand holding Ryou's head, but didn't remove the arm he had around his back, instead moving with the smaller boy gently towards their chairs. Ryou gazed up at him questioningly at this but decided not to ask questions when he heard Bakura say, "Heh, top that," to Marik and Yami as they passed by him.

Ryou sighed; of all the things to be competitive about.

Giving Bakura a look that clearly meant he was in no way letting him win, Marik stood up and walked forward. Malik blinked for a moment before following. What was that all about?

Behind his laptop, Seto looked at the Egyptians. Oh, now _this _is gonna be good. He could hardly wait what Marik's 'going to pull out of the hat', so to speak. Seto knew that all the darks have a very competitive side to them and would damn near do _anything _just to show how much better they than the other. And as far as he knew, Marik was probably the most unpredictable of the entire lot when it comes to these things.

Malik observed the expression on his dark's face. It looked like Marik was thinking really hard about something, and Malik felt that he was going to find out soon enough just what is going on through that demented head of his.

"Now…eh," Pegasus tread carefully, so far this certain pair always managed to end up in a disaster after their demonstrations. "Just…do what the others did, when you're ready."

There was a collective silence in the room as all stared at the two unmoving blondes.

Bakura was already opening his mouth to make a sharp comment when Marik made the first move.

The tanned dark held out his hand and gave Malik a very unnerving smile, "Well, Lightside?"

Malik raised an eyebrow but approached his dark all the same. "Hmph, _now _you want to cooperate?" he said skeptically.

Marik only gave a sly smile as he brought a muscular arm around his light.

"He probably feels like he _needs_ a hug or something," and there came Bakura's traditional side-comments. Ryou was worried that Marik might react violently again and was preparing himself to pull Bakura out of the way incase the other dark lunged at them, and so was very surprised when Marik merely grinned at them before turning back to his light.

Malik blinked when his dark side positioned himself behind him. "Uh…what are you doing? How am I going to hug you from there," he started to turn around but Marik stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

Before Malik could voice his protest for this 'man-handling' he was shocked speechless when he felt Marik embrace him from behind. The arms eventually came to rest around his waist while Marik rested his head on one of his shoulders. Malik stood stiff as a board. He could _feel _Marik's skin against his own where his usual lavender shirt left his abdomen bare. And the fact that Marik was _nuzzling _the spot just under his ear with his nose was not helping matters. He could feel his face heating up in embarrassment. He could barely register Yami and Bakura's unbelieving expressions, Yugi and Ryou's blush, or Seto's smirking face

"Uh…M-Marik…w-what are you d-doing?" he managed to choke out.

"Hugging," was his simple reply.

"Eh…"

Seto was snapping pictures like mad. Hopefully, no one would notice his rapid pounding on the keyboard as he pressed the short-cut key for picture-taking, being to distracted by Marik and Malik's…display. This was _priceless_.

Pegasus didn't know what to say, "Oh my…this is certainly…a pleasant…change."

Having finished saving all the black-mail material he had collected for the day, Seto decided to comment himself, "I think what Pegasus has to say is; _Excellent _acting. Judging by your friend's expressions, they are rather impressed too," he waved a hand lazily towards the other lights and darks, who still hasn't made any movement since.

Marik smirked, particularly aiming it at Yami and Bakura. "What can I say, me and my Lightside are natural actors," he nuzzled Malik once more.

"Eh—Marik! Stop that!"

He chuckled a bit but heeded Malik's plea. When he noticed Yugi and Ryou's red faces, said, "No need to get jealous, acting has always been our field. Don't worry though, I'm _sure_ Yami and Bakura would hug you like this when you ask them to. They're just uncomfortable with displaying affection in front of other people. Hopefully, they wouldn't chicken out once we're with Dream because of their _disabilities._"

This seemed to bring Yami and Bakura back to their senses. And upon seeing Marik's triumphant smirk, thought the same thing; this has just turned personal.

-----------------------

**I'm sorry if there wasn't much humor apparent in this chapter. I guess I focused too much on the (not really but kinda) 'romance' parts and basically let it take over from then on. **

**Don't worry though, the next chapter's going to have more laughs than this one (I hope). I already have a few crazy ideas running around my mind. I just need them to settle down so I can pick em' apart. **

**Feeling rather stressed right now (stupid school) so I'll probably post another chappy for UIT (Unmentionable Inner Thoughts), my brand-new stress-reliever-fic (it's strangely helpful). **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8: Start Talking

**Oh God! I haven't updated for more than a month! I'm really sorry guys. It's just that I've spent all my free time catching up with sleep since I've been sleeping past ****midnight**** almost everyday now and waking up at ****5 AM****. School's hell, I'm sure you all know. **

**Here's the long delayed chapter. Forgive me for its lateness and forgive me again if it isn't too good (I blame lack of sleep). I hope you haven't abandoned me or anything (I _am _still alive, you know:D) and that you enjoy this, no matter how late it is. **

**----------------------- **

Chapter 8:

Start Talking

---------

Ryou and Malik were both clueless as to why their respective darks were suddenly acting so cooperative all of a sudden. They took the chance to express their concerns with each other during their break for the day.

"Did anything happen that we weren't aware of?" Ryou said.

Malik scratched his head, "I…I don't think so…I've been with Marik the whole day yesterday and he did nothing except watch TV. So unless one of those cheesy movies affected that decomposed brain of his, I can't really think of anything else."

"Hmm…maybe we're just looking too much into this," Ryou had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I mean, maybe they figured out that them being all whiny and difficult would just lengthen the time we'd have to do these…gay stuff."

"Or maybe we're not seeing the whole picture…"

There was a brief moment of silence.

"…You think they're hiding something from us?"

Malik glanced at the darks for a second, checking to make sure they weren't paying any attention to him and Ryou. "Honestly…yes. I mean, come on, Bakura and _Marik _are being _affectionate_. Sure it's only acting and all that, but since when did they decide to follow Kaiba or Pegasus' commands? You know as well as me that they think Kaiba's an ass and Pegasus is a strawberry fruit loop. They detest those two!"

"Calm down, Malik!" Ryou said. The blonde's voice had been increasing in volume as he was letting out his frustrations. "Now, ever thought that maybe we should be thankful for this?"

Malik only gave him an incredulous look.

"At least they're cooperating with us. Do you like having a bloody brawl with Marik every single day?"

"Of course not, but I have the right to be suspicious!" Malik said crossly. "Your dark wasn't nuzzling_ your _neck out there like mine was doing!"

-----------

Not very far from where Malik and Ryou were voicing their suspicions to each other, Yami, Bakura, and Marik were having their own conversation. And unlike the two lights', it wasn't exactly a peaceful banter.

"Hah!" Marik scoffed, "Just give it up you two. You could _never _top what I just did! Admit it!"

"Whatever," Bakura said, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice and act as if Marik outdoing him wasn't a big deal. "You think I care that you act _'gayer' _than me? Tch, as if."

"…Isn't that supposed to be the point?" Yami interjected.

Bakura turned his glare to the tri-colored boy, "Why don't you just shut up?"

"I was only saying—"

"Well I don't wanna hear it."

Marik grinned. Ah, here was yet another one of Yami and Bakura's usual spats. His grin widened when he noticed Yami's eyes narrow dangerously. The pharaoh has always been touchy when it came to respect and such.

"Heh, I see a fight coming…"

Yami gave him a glare before snorting and starting to walk away, "I'm above petty fights. And Kaiba would probably go ballistic when we make another mess in his mansion."

The two darks left watched the pharaoh approach Yugi, who had been spending their break reading some book, before turning back to face each other.

After a brief silence, Bakura said, "You do know we're enemies in this too, right?"

"Of course," Marik said casually.

"Good."

Bakura was about to leave when Marik spoke once more, catching his complete attention.

"_If _you want to e_liminate _a certain pharaoh from this competition, however…just know that I'm willing to involve myself in a…temporary _alliance_…"

----------------

For the first time in days since this whole 'pretending-to-be-gay' thing started, Yugi felt relaxed and not at all uncomfortable. The past few days had him blushing like crazy at times because of the darks antics and Pegasus putting them into all sorts of uncomfortable situations, but it seems like they're slowing down (though temporarily) with all the 'couple stuff' for now.

Their next lesson would be by far the easiest, he thought. They wouldn't be working on any displaying of affection like before. Seto had decided to leave the 'intimacy' stuff for the meantime and work on their social skills, as he so termed it.

"Since all of you did such a…good job earlier…" Pegasus started, "Kaiba-boy and I have decided to give you a little break."

"What do you mean, 'a break'?" Bakura asked suspiciously.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "No need to get hostile, Bakura. We're just going to have a change of pace for today and focus on how you are going to interact with your 'lovers'. Can't actually convince Dream you're together when you can't even hold a decent five minute conversation now, can you?" his gaze flickered to Malik and Marik.

"Err…what exactly are we going to do?" Ryou asked timidly.

"Nothing complicated, I assure you…" Seto said. He gestured towards three tables with two chairs each, "You're going to spend the next two hours or so _socializing _with each of your partners. All you need to do is talk with one another and act as if you really _enjoy _doing so. Pegasus and I would be standing by and observing you like before."

"What the—are you saying that…I have to endure talking w-with—?" Malik jerked his hand at his darker self.

Marik visibly frowned at this and muttered something dejectedly under his breath.

"I don't want to hear any complaining Ishtar," Seto said warningly. "This depends completely on you and Marik whether it'll go smoothly or not."

Marik, in one of the very rare times, took his lighter half's side.

"Why the hell do we need to—"

Seto snapped his cool eyes at the other blonde. "In case you forgot, _Ishtal_," he drawled, "We're going to a _party_. And unfortunately, in case you're new to this, a party is a social gathering where people get along and _socialize _with other people…not killing, blackmailing, threatening, or any other word you might've mixed up in that twisted mind of yours."

Marik, not one to take any insult lying down, opened his mouth to retort. But Seto was having none of it.

"I will personally duct tape you to that chair if you so much _whisper _a _single _word."

It was obvious that Marik was more than slightly taken aback by this by the way his eyes widened and stared at the taller teenager.

Not long after Seto and Marik's little conflict, all six boys could be found seated obediently (or _almost_ obediently in Bakura's case) at their chosen tables and across their respective partners. Yami and Yugi seemed perfectly okay with their situation and even requested a plate of sandwiches as well as a bottle of soda each, saying that this could make their 'interaction' more enjoyable.

"This one's tuna, Yugi, you want it?" Yami asked, extending a hand holding a wrapped sandwich.

Yugi blinked for a moment. He had been poking the sandwiches here and there since he wanted a tuna one, he must've unconsciously relayed the thought to his other self. When he caught Yami staring at him with a slightly concerned expression when he blanked out, he became flustered, "Eh…err, don't you want it?"

He only received an endearing and thoughtful smile, "We both _you _want it, Yugi."

Beside the two multicolored boy's table, Bakura sneered in disgust, "This whole fiasco is turning those two fools even gayer than they were before—smack me if I ever start acting like that, Ryou."

Ryou only shook his head and said, "Whatever you say, Bakura."

"That's right. I'd rather you hit me with that sissy slap of yours than get caught being sugary-sweet towards anyone…except myself maybe… in front of a mirror…"

Ryou stared at him. He was a bit put off that Bakura thought he hit like a girl, but the last sentence his dark had uttered made disbelief overshadow his anger. He couldn't help but wonder at that moment just how big Bakura's ego was.

"I was here first damnnit!"

Ryou snapped his head at the side and didn't feel surprised upon seeing Malik and Marik fighting over a chair.

Currently, Malik was attempting to push his other half off the seat he had been occupying just five seconds ago. Marik had pushed him rather roughly (making him land painfully on his butt), saying that he wanted a seat near the window to admire the scenery.

Of course, Malik was having none of this.

"What the hell? Admire the scenery?" Malik grunted as he pulled Marik's arm with all his might. "Are you shitting me?" he snarled.

Marik only looked at his light with amusement, clearly not at all succumbing to Malik's vain efforts to pull him off the chair.

Bakura had turned his attention away from Yami and Yugi and were now regarding the fighting Egyptian pair with shining eyes.

"Why don't you just sit on his lap, Malik?" he smirked, ignoring Ryou's warning look. His host should know by now that those are ineffectual when directed at him. "That way, both of you can be happy!"

Malik's eyes flashed dangerously and he turned, "You know what, Bakura? I'm freaking _sick _of you—"

"Ishtar!" Seto shouted. Malik dragged his eyes towards Seto, the anger still noticeable there. Seto appeared unfazed by this, and in a less loud voice said, "Sit down._ Now._"

Reluctantly, and with lavender eyes fixed on Seto's with a furious gaze, Malik navigated his way around the table until he was opposite of Marik before crashing down non too-gently on the second chair. After this, he transferred his glare on Marik instead.

Bakura snickered, "Isn't this nice—"

"_Bakura_…" Seto said.

He heeded Seto's commands and settled for smirking at Marik and Malik's general direction instead. He and Marik might've agreed on a secret alliance against Yami, but the game was still on between them. He couldn't let Marik win (though he preferred him over Yami any day), and the best way to make sure he doesn't was to make _Malik _as irritable as possible. They planned on approaching Yugi in the same way to hinder his and Yami's performance, so who said he couldn't do the same with Marik and Malik. After all, the Egyptian dark never mentioned a ceasefire between them.

-------------

Seto and Pegasus spent their time walking from table to table, listening in to the boys' conversations, or in Marik and Malik's case, _persuading _them to start one.

"Oh, come now, Malik-boy!" Pegasus pleaded dramatically, "You two have done nothing except sit there ever since we started!"

He was only met with silence.

This time, Seto tried his luck, "You've already wasted twenty minutes…if you two are _still _not talking in the next ten seconds or so…I'm strapping you to your chairs for an additional two hours."

Both Marik and Malik glared heatedly at the CEO but remained silent.

"You want to see just how _serious _I am with what I said?"

Malik was tempted to remain stubborn, but being tied down on a chair did not actually agree with him so he spoke up with the first thing that floated in his mind, "Fuc—"

"Ishtar," Seto growled. "If this is how you're going to act with Dream, then I strongly suggest you try a different approach as so I won't be tempted to resort to less desirable measures to keep you in line."

Malik's eyes only widened a bit but he covered this with an indignant scoff, "Whatever…" he turned back to Marik. "Well? Do you want to start?"

Marik blinked, as well as Pegasus, and Seto. Malik's voice and whole expression, which had only seconds ago had been giving off angry, unwelcoming vibes, had just made a complete 180 degree turn. The way Malik had spoken dripped so much with polite sweetness it was making Marik nauseous. The way Malik smiled made him uncomfortable too, and if there's one thing Marik knew, Malik is the most dangerous of the three lights, and someone you should be careful around with once he's set his anger on you.

"I…uh…"

Malik grinned again. And though it would seem perfectly innocent to any other person, Marik knew it was anything but. "Well…if you can't think of anything…"

Seto and Pegasus walked away hastily. For some reason, they felt it would be better for their health if they left the blondes for a while.

Their suspicions were affirmed when upon seeing that only he and Marik were left alone, Malik dropped his act and the angry look returned on his face, "Alright, _Ishtal_. I know you're up to something with that huggy-huggy of yours earlier…care to enlighten me as to what you and _Bakura _are up to?"

Marik maintained his ground admirably, showing no signs of guilt, "What are you yapping about, Lightside?"

Malik's gaze intensified, he wasn't going to let Marik get way now, not when it was so obvious that the other was hiding something from him.

------------

Ryou rarely had the time to chat with Bakura, so this session was very interesting for him. There were times when he wondered what conversations Bakura held with other people and he did kind of wished that he could spend some time to just talk with his other side. Now, that he did manage to get a taste of what kind of chat-mate Bakura was like, and what conversations he took part in, Ryou wanted to get away from it all.

"That damn pharaoh, fucking my life up like that…I hope this gay business contaminates that spiky head of his and makes him a cross-dresser or something …I just need one picture and I'd be satisfied."

One thing Bakura loved talking about was Yami, Ryou couldn't even count how many times Bakura insulted the pharaoh. He was pretty sure some insults had yet to be repeated. It seemed that Bakura had a talent for coming up with all sorts of things about the people he despised. Not exactly useful, but it wasn't as if he can do anything about it.

"I'll give him a taste of _true _torture. He thinks trapping me in a ring is divine punishment? Let's just wait what he thinks true divine punishment is like once I pluck out every single hair from his body…you could come with me when I do it, Ryou. Besides, I need someone to hold him down while I use these tweezer things to—"

And when Bakura started talking about torture techniques, Ryou just couldn't take it anymore.

"Bakura, could you please…shut up?"

Bakura stopped dead in his ranting. Did he just hear what he thought he heard? Was _Ryou _really asking him to…?

"Care to repeat that?" he said lowly.

Ryou gulped involuntarily, wishing at the moment that he just kept his mouth shut. Never mind that he'd probably be scarred for life listening to Bakura's very intricate descriptions of his plans for Yami. The thief had to be credited for knowing such creative ways of torture as well.

"I mean, uh…maybe we should have a change of topic?" he said softly, "It's just that…I don't think we'd be having a conversation like this when we're actually with Dream…so I just wanted to…uh…practice?"

Bakura's eyes darkened in thought. Ryou was almost shaking in his seat. Maybe he shouldn't have said or done anything while Bakura was clearly in one of his bloody moods (as he assumed, considering he must've had heard Bakura enumerate five different ways as to how he could drain Yami's blood in his insult-fest earlier).

------------

Unlike the other pairs of light and darks, Yami and Yugi were actually having a sort of normal conversation, devoid of blood, knives, torture, threats, etc.

"I really think this is helping Bakura and Marik somehow," Yugi was saying, eyes shining innocently, "Weren't they both so sweet with Malik and Ryou? They were almost like us, Yami!"

It was rare for Yami to disagree with his light side. This was one of those rare times.

"The day those two demons become sweet is the day I'm going to shave my hair off. In short, _never_."

Yugi pouted and said, "Oh, you don't know that!"

"But I do. Marik, Bakura, and the word 'sweet' does not belong in the same sentence, unless there's a 'not' somewhere there too…"  
Yugi giggled, "That wasn't nice."

"But it's true," Yami nodded, "Besides, if I shave my hair off, I won't look like you as much as now anymore…and I won't like that…"

Yugi's eyes trembled slightly. He didn't know exactly what to say. "Yami—"

"Oh, you two are just so adorable!" Pegasus suddenly exclaimed, surprising both boys by the way he just popped up. He looked at Seto, "Aren't they Kaiba-boy?"

Seto sighed, "Well…not exactly a suitable 'party conversation' but it's better than the other two."

"Huh?" Yugi said, confused.

Yami tried to hide the smirk creeping on his face, "How _are _Marik and Bakura?"

"From what I gathered. Marik is about to get interrogated _then _killed while Bakura is attempting to corrupt Ryou's mind into hating you, Yami."

This time, Yami did smirk. Ah, so it seemed the other two were struggling (rather pathetically, he noted) with their competition. Though at first Yami had no intention of actually competing with Marik and Bakura, he felt different now, there was no way he's allowing any of them to win. And that was why a plan was already forming in his mind. His first goal, he decided, was to take Bakura down.

---------------

**Well there you go. Sorry for the lack of any romance or 'action'. They're coming, I assure you, just a bit of patience. **

**In case you think this chapter ends rather abruptly or that there wasn't any real 'conversations' between the yamis and hikaris, they'll be featured in the next chapter, it was just getting too long so I made it that this sort of 'leads to the main event' itself. Anyways, see you then! **

**And I hope you enjoyed the chapter! **


	9. Chapter 9: Let's Play Pretend

**Wah, long chapter ahead. Got a little carried away, I guess :p. Consider the extra length as something to make up for the rather slow updates.**

**I'll tell you now that summer vacation has just started here so I have a lot of free time on my hands. BUT, I'm not going to promise lighting-fast updates though (since that would be stupid of me).**

**Anyways, a lot of talking in this chapter, but they're all fun, I assure you. Hope you enjoy reading!**

------------------

Chapter 9:

Let's Play Pretend

-----

Ryou began to get worried when Bakura went absolutely silent after being told by him to 'shut up' (to quote his exact words). At first he thought the other was going to blow up and smack him on the head or something. But all Bakura did was stare at him in what may seem like horrified fascination, which he was continuing to do so now, unblinkingly.

Needless to say, Ryou wasn't exactly comfortable with this, and was trying very hard not to make any sudden movements, as this might suddenly trigger Bakura to lash out and bite his head off in a frenzy.

"Eh…hey, Bakura?" he said, keeping his voice carefully even.

Bakura did nothing except stare at him even more.

Ryou, after a bit of deliberation, leaned forward a bit and shook Bakura's shoulder gently. "…Bakura…?" when the other _still _remained unresponsive, he shook him a bit harder, "Hey, come on. I'm sorry for snapping, okay? You…could, eh, go on and talk about whatever you like! Eh, like the hair-plucking and nail-pulling…thing you were saying before…"

And then Ryou heard him say, softly, "Y-You told _me _to—"

"Gah, i-it's nothing, Bakura! Eh, I mean…I was just getting irritated with all the…noise, yeah…"

Bakura regarded Ryou for a moment, eyes slightly narrowed. Finally, he said, "Well, okay…as I was saying, I've read about this torture device, Ryou, and damn, it's perfect for the pharaoh! There's this iron casket see? Kind of like a sarcophagus, actually…with these spikes on the inside, placed in strategic positions. So that when you close it, with the person inside, it specifically targets the two eyes, the heart, the—"

Stopping himself from groaning in despair and covering his ears, Ryou dutifully endured Bakura's lecture. Next time, he said to himself, he's not going to care for Bakura's ego; no…he valued his innocent mind more.

"You look entertained…" Seto's voice registered in his mind. He looked up from his stupor and saw said boy gazing at him with mild curiosity. He also noticed that Bakura was glaring at Seto slightly, probably upset for interrupting his rant, he supposed.

"We're talking here, Kaiba," Bakura said, "Mind moving your ass to another table?"

------

So far, Marik remained strong under Malik's scrutinizing gaze.

"What are you two planning?"

"Nothing, Lightside," he said, making sure his voice was even.

Malik's eyes seemed to intensify, "I'll say it again; _what _are you two planning?"

Marik's own eyes hardened, "And _I'll _say it again, as well; _Nothing_, Lightside."

Both Egyptians were not quite gifted with patience, and it was obvious to anyone who would be looking that both boys were at the verge of blowing up, Malik more so than his dark. Marik blinked in surprise when Malik rose from his chair and with both palms on the table between them, leaned forward so that his face was probably no more than three inches away from him.

Despite himself, Marik gulped when Malik spoke, "If you and Bakura are…_playing around_ with us for your fucking twisted pleasure—and _I _find out…I'll make sure to return the favor…_tenfold_."

Marik mentally gave himself a pat on the back when he, though a bit shaken, managed a sinister smirk, even going as far as to lean even closer to the other. His smirk widened when he noticed a flicker of fear pass through Malik's eyes, and felt satisfied with his 'performance' when Malik actually shrank back when he himself mimicked the other boy's previous actions, rising up and leaning forward like Malik had done so before. "Well…I suggest you start sniffing around, Lightside. Because you'll find _nothing_, no matter how hard you look…"

Malik's expression was a mixture of self-doubt and anger, and once more, Marik congratulated himself for his superb acting.

"Well…I must say that sparks are _definitely _flying in this table…"

The two Egyptian boys turned their heads to the side to see Seto looking down at them in unmasked amusement. Being dismissed rudely by Bakura, he had decided to grace the two Egyptians with his presence. Unfortunately, he wasn't welcome here either.

"Didn't you get the 'leave me alone' message I so blatantly displayed before?" Malik said not too nicely. "Me and my _dear_ dark are having a conversation here, if you please…"

"Yeah, Kaiba," Marik had a look of mock-disappointment on his face, "And can't you see?" he jerked his head at Malik slightly, "Just a few more inches and we would've been kissing! You ruined poor Lightside's _fun_!"

Malik paled so fast, and Seto couldn't hold back a snicker, which he turned cleverly into a cough, "Well, ahem…forgive me, for…that…"

"Y-You—!" Malik was speechless as he scrambled to get his face away from Marik's smirking one. "T-That's…ugh!"

"I guess a hug just wasn't enough for you, eh, Lightside?" Marik teased mercilessly, "Oh no, you wanted _more_!"

The little patience Malik had went down the drain and with fierce glaring eyes he managed to compose himself, and then hit Marik so hard at the side of the head that the sound made by the impact attracted Yugi, Yami, Ryou, and Bakura's attention.

"Damn!" the white-haired dark exclaimed, while the rest of the boys stared in shock.

Seto appeared unfazed and merely turned to look at Pegasus who was at the other side of the room. "This is getting us nowhere," he said loudly, making sure that the other heard him.

Pegasus, who appeared to be sampling one of the sandwiches in Yami and Yugi's table, frowned, "Well…we could try and improvise…" and his single visible eye seemed to shine with an idea.

------

"This is stupid…" Bakura voiced out. Marik would've agreed with him but he was too busy glaring at Malik, while holding a packet of ice on the side of his head.

Yami decided to give his own input, "It's not _stupid_, Bakura," he said, "It's similar to a play, actually, and weren't you bragging about _your _acting skills not too long ago?"

Bakura gave him a dirty look but remained silent. Yami allowed himself a triumphant smirk.

All six boys where currently seated at a rectangular dining table, along with Seto and Pegasus, making them eight in total. Seto had ordered a few of his mansion's servants to prepare the large table with silverware and an appropriate course (complete with dessert). When the individual partner-to-partner interaction weren't working so well, Pegasus came up with a different approach, which he was explaining now.

"Alright, now, as I said, _you_," he waved his hand towards the six boys, "are who you really are. I," he pointed at himself, "am Mr. Dream. And Kaiba-boy here," he patted Seto on the head (said boy reacting with a warning growl), "is my gay son, the celebrant of…whatever reason they're hosting the party. Clear so far?"

Yami snickered, "Hehe, Kaiba's _gay_."

Seto coolly answered, "I guess we're _all _one and the same then."

Yami shut up.

Pegasus continued, "We're going to pretend we're at the party. The food's been served, and we're going to start eating. Now, we're going to make this as _real _as possible, hence the silverware and food. Hopefully, we'd be able to hit two birds with one stone and tackle your table manners as well."

"Uh…as long as I eat without making a mess, I should be fine, right?" Yugi asked timidly. He was rather intimidated by the vast array of different-sized spoons and forks set before him, not to mention the two glasses…and the three plates.

"Yes, yes…" Seto sighed. "I'd rather that I teach you how to proceed throughout the full course of the meal, but I personally think it would be a waste of my time," his eyes seemed to look in Bakura and Marik's direction as he said this.

"Alright, now," Pegasus said, "as we're eating, I expect you all to follow the conversations going on around you, and _take part _in them. Remember, I'm _Dream _this moment, and Kaiba-boy is my son—" Seto cringed a bit at this "—and _you're _our guests. Be sure that you're polite, avoid inappropriate…conversation topics, and everything should go smoothly."

Yugi, Yami and Ryou nodded to show that they understood, Bakura gave a dismissing snort, Malik was busy keeping an eye on Marik (who was sitting beside him), totally aware of the other's murderous gaze, to do anything.

Pegasus appeared to smile as he said, "Well then, _let's start_!"

------

Seto only became aware of his mistake of allowing Pegasus to go through with his idea once said white-haired man started to speak.

"Alright then boys, ladies—and gays," he nodded at the others' direction, "It's time for our feast! I'm sure all of your stomachs have been growling for food ever since you came here, eh?" he laughed heartily, "Well, before that, let's have a toast to my beloved son," he took the wine glass in front of him and raised it up.

Raising an eyebrow, Seto played along as they had agreed upon, taking his own glass with practiced ease and raising it slightly above his head. Yugi and Ryou observed him carefully, and imitated Seto's actions. Yami, strange enough, appeared to know exactly what he was doing and raised his glass at the same time Seto did. Malik followed soon after, still keeping a close eye on Marik (who made no move to even touch his wine glass). Bakura, on the other hand merely took the glass and proceeded to chug it down his throat, ignoring Ryou's disapproving look.

"To, uhm…Kiba!" Pegasus continued, making up the name as he went on, "May you find the love of your life, among the gays gathered here today, and end this blessed celebration tonight, on your bed, having steamy hot sex."

"PLEGH!" Bakura spat out the wine he had been drinking, spraying the red liquid all over the food in front of him, as well as Yugi, who was, unfortunately, sitting across the now-coughing former tomb robber.

Yugi blinked, hand still posed in mid air, completely caught off-guard by the sudden spew of wine that was now dripping down his face. Yami wasted no time and took his own table napkin and proceeded to wipe the poor boy's face, saying, "Eh, Yugi? You alright? Are you sure?" and so on. He would've retaliated and thrown his wine glass at Bakura (never mind that Bakura didn't exactly mean to choke and spit his drink everywhere), but he reminded himself that they were supposed to be at the party, and so far, neither Seto nor Pegasus seemed to have dropped their 'characters' still.

Ryou was hitting the back Bakura who was still coughing uncontrollably, saying something like; "Freaking hell--! I…guh…my nose! Shit—I think…inhaled that fucking--!" in between his sputtering and choked sounds.

Only Pegasus seemed unaffected by the spectacle before them. Seto hadn't noticed that he had tipped his glass, allowing the red wine to dribble down his arm (therefore staining his expensive shirt). Malik was looking at Bakura and a smile was tugging at his lips, he was obviously holding back a guffaw. And lastly, Marik had _finally _taken his eyes away from his light and was now drinking in the priceless scene before them.

When Ryou noticed that everyone was looking at him and Bakura, he struggled to come up with some kind of suitable explanation. "Eh…pardon Bakura, he's just….eh…hasn't had the chance to erm…drink wine in a while…he must've been unable to help himself!"

Yugi waved it off, "It's fine, Ryou…" he said, dabbing the now-pinkish napkin on his front. It didn't appear to have stained his leather clothing, but he could tell he'd smell 'wine-ish' afterwards.

Yami wasn't so lax, "Yeah, Bakura could _apologize later_…"

If Bakura hadn't still been hacking his lungs out, he would've protested on this.

Pegasus started laughing good-naturedly, "Ah…what a fine start for our meal, eh? Good boy, Bakura, good boy!"

Bakura managed a glare, his coughing finally dying down.

"Now," Pegasus stretched his arms, "Let's eat!"

A bit hesitantly, all boys started to pick at their plates (except for Marik and Bakura, who started piling their plates without any second thoughts). Seto observed them at the corner of his eye as he sliced a piece of steak.

So far, no one seemed willing to start any conversation. Yugi and Ryou _looked_ like they wanted to start one, but knowing those two, they were probably too shy to do so.

Thankfully, or was it unfortunately? Seto couldn't be so sure, Pegasus made the first move, or in this case, the first word. "Ah…well…we haven't had the time to _mingle _while you boys were frolicking around earlier…so, mind telling me, and my son here, about yourselves?"

Seto hid a smirk, deciding he should enjoy the show for what it's worth and added, "Yes, I would _love _to hear about you. Father's been keeping me on a leash lately, and… I just haven't had the time to spend some time with people my age," he then turned to look at Yami, "You're name…'Yummy', wasn't it?"

Yami limited his reaction to a glare. Remember, he said to himself, this is Mr. Dream's son (and not Seto Kaiba), at least for the moment. He ignored Bakura's guffaw and Marik's snickers as he replied, "Sorry, no, _Kiba_," Seto slightly cringed at the name Pegasus had bestowed upon him, "My name is _Y-A-M-I_. Say it with me; _Yaaaa-meee_."

"Alright then, _Yami_," Seto said lowly, "I'm in the mood for romance—why don't you tell me how you and dear…Yugi…? Yes. Yugi here, met, and fell into blissful lusty love?"

Pegasus clapped his hands joyfully as Yugi went red in the face, "Oh, yes! Ah, I do so love hearing about young love," he said with a dreamy air, "And until my son here rounds up his own stallion, I guess I have to satisfy myself with you boys!"

Seto laughed mockingly, "Yes, yes, father _does _love romance. So, come on, _Yami_, share!"

Bakura and Marik didn't put any effort in stifling their laughter, Marik even going as far as to hit the table with his fist a couple of times shouting, "Yeah! Come on, leather-boy! Share us your escapades!". Clearly, he had forgotten about his and Malik's little fight earlier.

Ryou pitied Yugi, but could do nothing but try his best to _not _encourage or make the situation more embarrassing than it already was.

Malik appeared unaffected by what's happening around him and seemed to be perfectly happy devouring his plate of salad, though his eyes did seem to convey a hint of amusement as it glanced at the others every now and then.

"I…ugh…." Yami stammered, "Me and Yugi—we, err…we met at..."

"A bar!" Bakura exclaimed, laughing his head off.

"And Yami here's the bartender!" Marik joined in.

Yami blushed helplessly, and inwardly he reminded himself to get back at the other two darks when it's their turn to be humiliated later. Especially Bakura, he thought, since the white-haired boy _was _his primary target.

"Yes, we did meet at a bar," Yugi's slightly timid voice suddenly cut through the myriad of laughing voices. "Some of my…friends brought me with them…and I met Yami there. He made sure I didn't get drunk, I don't take alcohol too well, you see. I…kind of spent the whole night talking with him…" he trailed off and blushed.

Seto was quite impressed with Yugi's story. After all, the boy did come up with it on the spot. However, that didn't mean he was happy about Yami slipping away from the spotlight of humiliation. Well, he thought, there were still the Bakuras and the two Egyptians…plenty more to get entertained with.

A smile spread on Yami's face. He could always count on his partner. "Yes…I remember that night," he took over, ideas going through his head, "Yugi was a bit intimidated with the other customers. It's his first night in a club after all…I found him sitting at the corner and well…that's how it started! I'll tell you though, that…it's his looks that really caught my attention…"

"Yes…the resemblance—amazing!" Pegasus said in delight and awe. "And what a coincidence!"

Yami laughed, Yugi joining in with him. "Yes," Yami said, "A fortunate coincidence, if I may say so. Otherwise, I would've never met my dear Yugi," he brought his arm around the smaller boy's shoulders for effect. Yugi smiled at this and said, "We were both lucky that night."

"You two are so sweet!" Pegasus said faintly.

Seto gave him a strange look and then, looked back at the pair, "Yes...like _honey_…" he gritted out.

Yami smiled, relishing in his obvious victory, before leaning a bit to whisper in Yugi's ear, "Thank you for that timely save, Yugi."

Yugi grinned back, "Anytime."

"'Lucky that night'?" Bakura sneered, catching the two boys' attention, "Did said night end with a screw…or two?"

Yugi flushed, but his other was unaffected. "Now," Yami said, his eyes glinting, "Let's see what _Bakura _could come up with," he said in a whisper once more, so only Yugi can hear him.

"_Two_, I guess," Yami said nonchalantly, looking up, gaining shock stares from all over the room. He continued, "But actually, it wasn't Yugi and I," he grinned now, "In fact, the deed was done by Bakura here, with…two _different _participants."

A "Whoop!" came from Marik. "Damn, Bakura! Two screws, with two different persons in one night!"

Ryou was getting uncomfortable by now, predicting that it was probably his and his dark's turn to be put under the microscope. He could do nothing about it though.

"Oh yes," Yami said, drinking in Bakura's horrified expression, "I caught him in the act, under one of the tables, near closing time. I was cleaning up and, well, I pulled off the tablecloth since some of the customers stained it pretty badly then, and lo and behold!"

Marik was still laughing, "Under the table! Damn, Bakura! Can't wait anymore, could you?"

A very malicious grin appeared on Yami's face, he said, "That's right. He was with Marik here."

"WHAT?" Marik stopped laughing immediately. Meanwhile, Malik was letting out stifled snickers.

"Amazing…" Seto said, "All…four of you have a connection. Made on the same night," he nodded in a knowing way.

"Yes," Pegasus said, "However, how about you two _fine _young boys?" he looked in Ryou and Malik's direction. "Eh…who are you with again?"

Blushing, Ryou answered, "I…I'm with…Bakura…" he managed to grind out. He couldn't help it, saying those few words just felt…unnatural.

Malik felt like throwing one of the knives laid out conveniently in front of him at Pegasus, but stopped those particular urges from turning into actual actions. "I'm with…eh…" he jerked a thumb at Marik's direction.

"How did you end up together then? If these two here were…intimate?" Seto said with a questioning look. Oh, he was _so _enjoying this.

Suddenly, Bakura saw an opportunity to stir up a little bit of trouble, "Oh, it was all physical, trust me. You see, Marik here, was stalking a certain stripper…the only reason he went to that bar. And after a rather…_pleasing _performance, he just had to…_you know_."

"A stripper?" Seto said in mock-shock, hiding just how much he was enjoying this, "You mean to tell me…"

A grin broke on Bakura's face, "That's right. _Malik's _a stripper! You should request a performance."

Now, both Marik and Malik were shouting obscenities at the tomb robber.

"FREAKIN' FUCKING—BAKURA, YOU SON OF A BI—"

"STRIPPER? I'LL FUCKING STRIP _YOU_! I'LL RIP OUT YOUR FREAKING HAIR, AND YOUR SHITTY STRIPED SHIRT—"

Ryou knew there was nothing that could be done to stop the two Egyptian's outrage (something he learned from experience). And yet he still tried, "H-Hey, come on guys! Bakura was j-just…eh, making stories up from his…nose—you know how he is!"

"Haha, oh come now, Marik! If you want Malik's performance all to yourself, we won't hold anything against you!" Bakura shouted.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Marik shouted back ferociously, now rising up from his seat.

"A little to possessive, aren't you?" Pegasus said casually, as if all was fine and peaceful.

Marik grabbed the knife he had been using to eat, and upon seeing this, Bakura grabbed his own weapon. Everyone scrambled under the table just in time before hell broke loose. Not that it did them any good though.

-----

Seto was _not _a happy person that night. Even his brother, Mokuba, couldn't get his spirits up (or quell his bottled temper).

So far, Seto thought, that was the worst session they ever had. Marik and Bakura had completely trashed that room (laying to waste all his valuable antiques present there). And he was even nursing a bleeding lip and a swollen cheek, courtesy of Yami (who said that he didn't realize it was Seto he was punching because of all the commotion). The others were in bad shape as well, especially Malik, who Marik had decided to make a human shield. Useless, since Bakura kept hitting and slicing at him anyway.

Thankfully, Yugi and Ryou managed to stop the fighting before anyone got seriously hurt by hitting the fighting darks with two vases on the head, enough to knock them out. It was also _almost _enough to make Seto cry, said (imported) vases costing around two thousand dollars each.

He rubbed his forehead wearily, trying to convince himself that things could only get better after this.

The phone rang, and Seto answered in a tired voice, "Who is it?"

"A…Mr. Carlos Dream on the line, sir. Should I put him through?" he heard his secretary say.

"Dream? Yes, go on…"

He waited for a moment and was soon greeted by said man's voice, "Ah! Seto! Well, you've been well, I hope?"

Seto managed to conjure a laugh, "Of course! Anything I could do for you?"

"Yes, straight to the point," Dream said, "My son, Prince, well…he's been awfully bored these last few days. He's excited for the party, but it is still quite a while…anyways, he said he'd be visiting you…tomorrow probably. He left earlier today. He seemed really eager to meet those friends of yours!"

Seto was struck dumb, "W-What?"

"I just called so that you'd be aware that he's going to drop by. So…I'll see you soon then! Take good care of my son!" and the line went dead.

Seto's mind was in utter chaos. _What were they going to DO?_

-----------

**Well, hope you didn't sleep through that…since it's pretty long and all.**

**I like (reading :p) long chappies personally, but I don't know about you guys.**

**Hopefully, all characters had their share of the spotlight. I can't help but feel I'm leaving some of them out every now and then, you know. Terrible feeling for me.**


	10. Chapter 10: A Prince's Arrival

**Sorry about the long wait guys. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Your reviews really gave me the inspiration and motivation I needed to finish this.  
**

**Now…I'm gonna ask you all for your opinions. I mentioned before, in the very first chapters or so, that I wasn't sure at all whether to make this truly a 'romance'fic between the darks and lights or not… **

**Eh…I have to say that until now, I still don't know what to make of this little monstrosity of mine. This is the tenth chapter, and it's pretty long as it is, I'm worried that making romance possible in this fic is gonna make it even longer, and maybe incorporating humor, a bit difficult. **

**So…I'm asking you now—yaoi or to _not _yaoi? **

**------------ **

Chapter 10:

A Prince's Arrival

------

Seto took in the not so impressive appearance of his 'acquaintances'. Marik and Bakura looked downright dreadful; both were sporting quite a number of bruises and cuts on their skin from their swordfight yesterday (as well as identical bumps on the head). However, this was nothing compared to Malik. The Egyptian light even had to seek help from his sister to fix up a sling for his right arm as well as treat one of his ankles, being literally caught up between Marik and Bakura's sparring, he took the worst beating out of all of them. Thankfully, they were only sprains, no broken bones. Yami, Yugi, and Ryou were pretty much unharmed by the chaotic brawl, being smart enough to stay clear from the fighting darks until they managed to stop them.

Frankly, Seto thought it would take one hell of a miracle for them to fool Dream's son in their state.

"Well…I'm glad to see all of you made it out alive from yesterday's…session," Pegasus started.

He received a few glares from this, particularly from Malik who said, "I can't move my freaking arm…I can't even _walk _properly."

Marik nodded wisely, "Yeah…I had to hold his hand every time he used the stairs."

Malik went red. "Sh-Shut up! It was your fault anyway!"

"_My _fault? How the fucking hell is it _my _fault? What about Bakura, huh?" Marik said loudly.

"Bakura wasn't the one who pulled me into your freaking knife fight to be some punching bag!"

Seto ran a hand tiredly down his face. "Damn it, we don't have time for this!" he said sharply.

The tone of his voice made Marik and Malik quiet down. Malik huffed and stared off to the side, not wanting to look at his dark, while the latter only scoffed and crossed his arms, muttering a "Whatever".

Bakura seemed amused by Seto's noticeable bitter mood. "What's gnawing at your behind?"

A sigh that could almost be described as depressed escape from the CEO. "We've got a problem…"

"A problem?" Yami repeated, confused. "Well…" he looked at Marik and Bakura, "you could always get rid of them…"

"Now wait just a—"

"Don't you even—"

"Relax," Seto said, "True it may be that you two have given us…a hard time, but I can't afford to kick you out of the plan…as sad as that may sound…" he muttered the last part to himself.

"What's the problem then?" Yugi asked.

"There has been…an unexpected turn of events that we have not foreseen...we will be meeting Dream's son earlier than planned."

"Did they move the party's date or something?" Ryou blinked.

"No…" Seto said stiffly. He was starting to feel that dread-filled sensation he has also experienced when he was telling the others of the predicament he had unintentionally involved all of them in a couple of days go. He chose his words carefully, "Dream called me last night. He said his son was on his way to see us. Apparently, he couldn't _wait _to see all of you. So now he's probably flying over here in some fancy jet…Dream said we could expect him today."

"_Today?_" the boys said in unison, eyes wide.

"Yes…"

"Freaking hell…this week's just getting better and better…" Malik mumbled.

Yugi and Ryou looked the most concerned. They hardly considered themselves ready for something like this!

"Well that's it then," Bakura said callously, "We're screwed."

Seto gave him a look. "This doesn't mean you're spared from putting any effort in maintaining your gay images when he arrives. I am not such a fool as to have all the sacrifices I made for all of you go to waste. And if you even _think _about messing around, then I suggest you book a flight to another _continent _because I _will _make sure that you'll pay."

Bakura looked slightly unnerved. He scooted away from Seto a bit. "Fine, fine…no need to get all nasty…"

"What are we going to do, then?" Yami brought back the main topic. He felt quite nervous about the recent news, and though he and Yugi might be a few levels above the others in convincing anyone that they're together, it would be an entirely different challenge to act gay in front of Dream's son. This was the real thing, and they were far from entirely prepared for it.

Seto had a determined look in his eyes.

"I loathe to say this but…we have no choice; you'll all have to wing it…"

"_Wing it?_" Marik exclaimed, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

He gave the Egyptian dark a glare, "No, Marik, I am _not _out of my 'fucking mind' as you so eloquently put it. Don't worry your spiky head…because I will _personally _make sure you don't screw up."

-------

Ryou fingered the hidden earpiece at his right ear, a bit uncomfortable with the high-tech gadget that Seto has given all of them. He also fumbled a bit while he adjusted the hidden microphone concealed in his shirt. Though he had to admit, he couldn't help but be impressed with Seto's plan. It almost seemed foolproof.

All six boys were each given their own respective microphone and earpiece.

The plan was relatively simple, and as Seto said earlier, "Only idiots with the brain capacity of worms will be able to screw this up," Seto and Pegasus will be in the mansion's control room, surveying every move they would make and every word they'd utter once Dream's son arrived through the surveillance system wired throughout the complex. Their instructions were simple; '_Do everything Pegasus and I will tell you'._

Hopefully, they wouldn't make them do anything _too _difficult.

Yugi and Yami seemed to be the most attune with the situation and actually looked quite comfortable. The two were seated calmly at the sofa in the mansion's larger visitation rooms and talking animatedly.

Bakura gave them a dirty look. "Those two are getting on my nerves…" he muttered darkly, causing Ryou to raise an eyebrow at him and then sigh.

"They're just _talking_, Bakura," Ryou said exasperatedly.

"Shut up."

_"Alright boys!" _Pegasus' voice suddenly exclaimed in their earpieces, making them slightly jump in surprise. _"We just got a call that Dream's boy just arrived…one of Kaiba-boy's butlers is receiving him right now. Prepare yourselves." _

The boys tidied themselves up (except for Malik who didn't dare move from his comfortable position on the inclined sofa. His arm and foot would jar him with pain if he tried to move too much). All of them were wondering just what kind of person this son of Dream was. The general question running through their heads was something along the lines of; 'Is he stupid enough to be fooled by their gay act?'

Yugi was starting to get nervous again, especially when they started hearing a few muffled voices at the other side of the door. He unconsciously gripped Yami's arm, said dark looked at him with slight concern and whispered, "Don't worry, Yugi…all we have to do is follow Kaiba and Pegasus' directions. It will be fine."

The shorter of the two gave a more confident smile, "I guess…"

"Though I have to say, I don't really feel comfortable with those two being our 'backseat drivers', so to speak…"

Finally, the double doors opened, admitting their not-really-anticipated visitor in. Everyone tried to put on a welcoming and warm smile (though Marik and Bakura failed).

Carlos' Dream's son actually looked decent, they thought. The boy looked a bit older than them…probably two to three years by the looks of it. He was pale, but not as much as Ryou or Bakura. And his black shoulder-length hair was tied into a very neat ponytail in a way that gave him the air of one of those sinister aristocrats. He wore a black immaculate suit that looked expensive enough to buy a house and lot. The impressive image he made with his entrance only caused the boys to feel even smaller.

"…He doesn't _look_ gay…" Marik whispered to his light.

It was true, the boy looked as frigid as Seto.

Their guest surveyed them one by one with his keen brown eyes, as if examining them from head to toe.

No one spoke.

_"Greet him, damn you!" _hissed Seto's voice in Yami's earpiece. The latter had to restrain himself from jerking in surprise and opened his mouth to speak, "I…uh…"

Seto felt like hitting his head on the table.

Fortunately, Yami managed to compose himself. He realized this was a great opportunity to rub it in Bakura and Marik's face that he's better then them and so was eager to prove this fact true. A smile formed on his lips as he strode forward and grab the younger Dream's hand, "We've been waiting for you! Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Yami. We're Seto Kaiba's friends…I trust your father told you about us?"

Yugi's eyes were wide as he watched his other half greet the boy in such a casual fashion, truly impressed.

Seto sighed in relief which was unheard by anyone except Pegasus and himself.

Meanwhile, the two other dark entities in the room were inwardly seething. Both were thinking the same thing; 'That fuck is such a show-off.'

And for the first time, their visitor spoke, "Why, of course he did! My father always tells me whenever he comes upon anyone I could weave a social relationship with. And to tell you the truth, I was so very anxious to meet all of you. That's why I couldn't wait to drop in! I am Prince, by the way, Prince Marius Dream. A pleasure to meet all of you!"

Bakura blinked, as well as everyone else in the room. It was as if the whole cold stiff appearance he seemed to convey before was nothing more than that. The way 'Prince' smiled and talked threw all their previous assumptions they had about him out the window. He sounded carefree and completely casual, it made quite a contrast with his stern looks.

The tomb robber said, "He…he _looks _like ice-cold Kaiba, but he acts like a happily gay Pegasus. It's like what you'd get if those two had children or something…" he stopped, "Damn. Now I feel sick."

Ryou gave him a weird look, faintly wondering what said CEO and Duel Monsters Creator would've said if they heard him.

Actually, Pegasus and Seto heard Bakura perfectly. The former looked honestly thoughtful for a moment. The latter however, reminded himself to take some precautions that Bakura never repeat that sentence again.

Prince shook Yami's hand again before letting go and walking towards the others. His gaze passed through each of the couple's before he spoke again, "I have to say, I was very surprised to see the similarities between all of you…I must've stared too much in awe, I usually make it my habit to greet anyone first. Forgive me."

"Oh, that's fine," Yugi said meekly, attempting a smile.

"Well…I've already introduced myself…so what about you?"

"I'm Yugi, glad to meet you."

"And you must be with Yami there, correct?" Prince said.

The smaller boy blushed and muttered a "Yes…"

He laughed and gave Yugi a fond gaze, "Well…you're a cute little thing aren't you?"

Prince then turned to the white-haired pair. Bakura involuntarily stiffened when Prince looked at him.

Ryou, knowing fully well that Bakura was useless when it came to conversations (including simple introductions), brought it upon himself to speak, "I'm Ryou and this is Bakura…he doesn't talk much at…certain times."

Bakura bristled when Prince chuckled, "Yeah, I know that type."

"Eh…right," Ryou said unsurely.

Malik looked up from his relaxed position when their visitor's eyes were directed at him. "Malik Ishtar," he said simply.

"And I…am Marik," the darker Egyptian said in a proud tone.

Prince couldn't help but stare in awe at the two (making Malik very uncomfortable). "The resemblance of your looks really is amazing…and your names! They're so much alike!"

Malik coughed nervously, "Yeah well…"

"We were just _meant to be _I guess…" Mark stated, nodding his head wisely.

Seto was slightly impressed by the other's performances so far. Hell, even _Marik _was being quite successful in keeping Prince in the dark. If things went as smoothly as now, then they wouldn't even have needed to plant all those communication devices on the boys.

And then Prince asked, "What's with all the injuries, though?" he looked at Malik's arm. He looked at Marik as well, "And those bruises…did you get into a fight?"

"Uh…I—I mean, we…" Malik stumbled all over his speech. What was he going to say? Marik and Bakura decided to have a swordfight and he ended up being a literal shield between them? He didn't think Prince would be very impressed if he did. His mind was spinning, what the hell was he going to say? A quick glance at Marik didn't yield any results. His dark didn't even appear to be thinking about answering Prince's question.

Seto was cursing, seeing that both Egyptians appeared to be stumped as to what to say.

Suddenly, Pegasus turned on his mike and opened Marik's line, _"Marik-boy. Grope Malik-boy's butt. Now." _

Marik's eyes went positively wide, _"WHAT? Even _I'm _not insane enough to do _that! _Lightside's going to kill me!_" he whispered harshly. Thankfully Prince wasn't close enough to hear him, otherwise, the other might've questioned him as to why he was talking to himself.

_"Just do it, and smile afterwards." _

Seto looked on with something akin to horror. His mind was unable to think of any explanation as to why Pegasus was asking Marik to do…that. This better not be his perverted side making itself known at this convenient time, that's for sure. Seto opened his own link to Marik's line and said, _"Do as he says, Marik_._" _

Marik stiffly moved closer to his light, positioning himself at Malik's side. And with a shuddering breath, reached down and—

"GAH!" Malik yelled, jumping out of his sitting position, the shock overcoming the jolt of pain he did at the sudden movement. "What the—!"

Marik smiled just as he as told, an accomplishment, considering the completely horrified and furious look Malik was giving him.

_"Repeat after me; 'That's how it happened really…Malik here is just so irresistible, see. And one night, I got a little carried away…" _

"Malik here is just so…irresistible, see," Marik said, "And one night…well…I got a little…carried away," he nearly choked. Damn. This was _hard!_

Yugi and Ryou, along with their respective darks, looked at him with totally shocked faces. The darks were particularly flabbergasted. They knew Marik was prone to taking things to the extreme, and they both expected him to resort to all sorts of crazy things even at the start of their competition, but honestly, this was a whole new level.

Pegasus opened Malik's line, _"Say 'I like it rough'." _

Malik was too shocked to retort. He didn't even seem to be registering what he was saying as he repeated Pegasus' words.

"I...l-like it...rough."

The other's eyes widened even more.

Fortunately, Prince was oblivious to the other's reactions and didn't seem to register the very unnatural expressions adorning the two Egyptian's face as they spoke. "I see," he laughed briefly, not at all disturbed by the information they shared, "I like bondage, personally…and maybe a little whipping, but you two must really be getting it on to break an arm!" he laughed even more.

"It's only sprained…" Malik said faintly.

Prince only laughed and sat himself on one of the chairs. "My, I'm sure I'll be enjoying my time here with all of you. Sex is one of my favorite conversation topics."

Ryou looked at the older boy, quite perturbed, not to mention feeling suddenly nervous. He had assumed that Pegasus and Seto might've been coaching Malik and Marik before, judging by the looks in both boy's face as they were talking. He didn't know of he can handle saying something like _that_, when it involved him and Bakura. He at least hoped they don't order Bakura to grope him…he might slap his 'lover' out of reflex.

Strange enough, Bakura looked interested. Ryou didn't trouble himself with wondering what was going on in said tomb robber's head, he was positively sure he wouldn't understand it anyways.

"That's…nice," Bakura said.

"Yes, very much," Prince nodded, he then looked at Bakura with a teasing smile. "What about you…--Bakura, correct?— any bedroom secrets you'd like to share?"

The way Bakura smiled made Ryou's blood run cold.

"Not really…my little Ryou here's somewhat sensitive. You'd think I was going to kill him when I bite harder than he likes, or if I pull his hair. He always complains about that. But what can I do? It's not like I can fully control myself in the throes of _passion!_"

Ryou gagged, turning it hastily into an embarrassed cough. He was only barely successful in not glaring at his dark. The way he seemed all to happy with what he was saying made Ryou sure that there was no Seto or Pegasus reading him his lines. Sometimes, he wondered whether Bakura's personal goal was to embarrass him to insanity (like what Marik seemed to have dedicated himself to do to Malik).

Yami watched with narrow eyes as Bakura chatted up with Prince. Damn, now he was the only one who hasn't seemingly earned some 'points' in their contest. What can he do?

He wasn't really eager to follow Marik and Bakura's examples. Unlike the other darks, he wasn't willing to put Yugi in any form of humiliation. He briefly looked at Ryou's red face, and Malik's clearly traumatized expression. No, Yugi wouldn't be able to handle that. He would have to think of some _other _plan, something that would leave Marik and Bakura speechless but will keep Yugi completely shame-free…

-----------

**As always, I hope you enjoyed this. I admit to having trouble writing this chapter, really amazing how inspired I got all of a sudden! I really can't believe I finished this in one sitting! **

**YES! I have now officially kept my promise. Three freaking updates in one day! Check my other stories out if ya'll interested (I've been kinda neglecting them for a while in favor of this fic XD) **

**And yet another surprise. I'm planning on this new fic (humor again :P). It's not gonna be as long as JP that's for sure. It will probably be up a few days from now. Yeah, I'm super inspired damn it! And I'm using it all up before it flies away again. **


	11. Chapter 11: Complications

**Finally, eh?**

**Haha. Oh this chapter was probably the hardest so far to get out. I had so many ideas in my head but I can't seem to get them written on paper. Don't you guys just hate it when that happens? It was going smoothly the first half but then came the dreaded writer's block (NOOOOO!!!). I really am sorry if this chapter doesn't seem to be humorous as the rest before (sniffle).**

**But still, here we are! The eleventh chapter (maybe a bit crappy, but who am I to judge my work at 3 AM in the morning? Who knows, you might like it :D)**

**As for whether this fic is going to be yaoi or not…let's discuss that at the end of this chapter, hehe.**

**--------------**

Chapter 11:

Complications

------

Seto could only wonder if he was seeing things or not, because what he was witnessing right now was too good to be true (and maybe a little unnerving). Of all the six boys available, it was _Bakura _that Prince was acting all chummy with. The two started with their very meaningful conversation about their 'nightlife' (wherein poor Ryou had gone red with embarrassment and green with Bakura's very…detailed, though fake, accounts). From then on, the two have proceeded to talk about every sex-related topic they could think about.

Seto was seriously tempted to cut off their audio connection to avoid any pollution of his mind. Pegasus seemed too eager to listen in, much to the said CEO's discomfort.

"My most recent boyfriend was near perfect," Prince was saying. "He knew _just _where to touch me whenever I was having trouble getting into it whenever we have a 'tumble' among our bed sheets, you know? Ah…" he had a dreamy look in his eyes.

Ryou and Yugi looked disturbed.

"And his _body_! Oh, he was so fit…" his eyes strayed to Marik, "Kind of like Marik here, actually…"

Marik didn't know whether to be proud or worried.

"And his _ass_…" Prince sighed, still staring at the Egyptian. Marik shifted uncomfortably and edged closer to Malik (who gave him a suspicious look, not quite forgetting the grope he received earlier), afraid that Prince might be looking at _his _rear.

"Heh, _my _Ryou has _the_ perfect ass. Trust me," Bakura said proudly, giving Prince a wink.

Ryou only settled on gritting his teeth while he received this onslaught of embarrassment. Oh, Bakura is _so _going to pay for this later. He'd make sure of that.

Yugi was feeling very blessed to have the only sensible dark side in the whole lot.

"A real shame he has no fashion sense whatsoever. I mean, I _love _him and all but seriously…the clothes he wears," Bakura shook his head solemnly.

Ryou murmured, "I'm right here, you know."

Prince laughed at the sour-looking light. "Oh, Ryou. You should actually consider yourself lucky! It's rare to find a partner as honest and _sincere _as Bakura here. That's the main reason why some relationships just don't last; no one speaks up about these little things," he patted Bakura's shoulder.

Needless to say, Ryou was speechless. The only person who looked almost as flabbergasted as Ryou was Yami. The pharaoh looked downright scandalized. There were just so many things debatable with those few sentences that Prince had spoken.

Oblivious to the other's expressions, Prince looked around and in a curious voice said, "Is Mr. Kaiba joining us soon? Where is he anyways?"

In the control room, Seto immediately opened Yugi's line. _"Tell him I'm taking care of some things at Kaiba Corp. and that I'll be back later today, evening probably,"_ he said. He had planned ahead to remain absent from Prince's presence since he can't very well leave Pegasus in-charge of looking over the boys by himself (who knew what the other man would do?). However, if everything turned out alright for a (long) while, then he'd meet Prince personally. After all, it would be quite strange not to mention very impolite, if he didn't.

Yugi dutifully followed Seto's words, "Oh…I'm sorry, erm…Mr. Dream. He has to take care of some stuff at work. He said he'll be back later this evening, and to forgive him that he can't personally meet you at your arrival. That's why he sent us in his place instead."

It was hard not to find Yugi adorable in his endearing politeness. Prince was no different. He smiled warmly at the younger boy and laughed, bringing an arm around Yugi's small shoulders. "No fuss, no fuss. Besides, I'm enjoying myself very much with all of you…I'm sure you can all keep me entertained until our dear Mr. Kaiba arrives."

Yugi gave a strained smile and sagged under the weight of Prince's arm. "Uh…thank you?"

Seeing his partner's discomfort, Yami moved and politely pulled Yugi out of Prince's grasp. "We're very flattered to hear that," he said smoothly, with a smile.

Prince raised an eyebrow as Yami dragged Yugi away and sat the smaller boy beside himself. A moment later, realization dawned in his eyes and he let out a hearty laugh, "Oh, forgive me Yami, I didn't realize. I was acting a bit too 'comfy', I suppose. Quite a protective lover, aren't you?" he said teasingly.

Much to everyone's surprise (irritation, in Marik and Bakura's case), Yami didn't even appear unfazed and only smiled apologetically. "Yes, I'm afraid I am," he said.

Yugi sent his other a look between amazement and gratefulness. Yami only grinned wider. This was almost too easy. He might not be able to indulge himself with the…unsettling acts and conversations that Bakura and Marik are capable of. But at least his 'sweet' and caring attitude towards Yugi came naturally, stemming from true feelings. The others were pure acting, which is possibly the reason why they're having too much difficulty in pretending to be together. Yami was planning to drown them in fluffy goodness.

This way, Yugi wouldn't feel embarrassed at all. Because everything was so close as to how they really act with one another.

"So…what _are _we going to do until Mr. Kaiba gets here?" Prince asked the others.

"Well…" Yami trailed off.

"_You can give him a tour of the mansion, though I don't particularly care what all of you do. Just make sure to keep him entertained," _Seto said in a careless fashion.

"_You could just ask him what he wants to do, Yami-boy," _was Pegasus' input.

Nodding mentally to himself, Yami said, "Well, since you're our guest for today, it would only be appropriate that _you _decide our activities. Kaiba specifically told us to make sure you enjoy your stay. So basically, you have us to cater to your every need."

"Oh, you make everything sound so formal, Yami," Prince said, though a thoughtful look came upon his face, "But in that case…I _would _like to wander around for a while. Though I think you should show me to an available guest room before anything."

This statement caught everyone off guard. Seto started stammering, _"What the—a guest room? Don't tell me he's sleeping over!"_ the CEO's voice was getting quite high-pitched.

"Just how long are you staying?" Malik asked suspiciously.

"Well…father said I should stay for the night at least. So the jet could have some time to refuel," he said casually,

This simple answer confirmed the boys' and Seto's worst fear (Pegasus was the only one who looked unperturbed. The white-haired man looked almost pleased at this turn of events). Seto looked close to tears and was actually wondering whether Prince would be offended if he kicked him out of the premises when the day was done.

Yami was trying his best to ignore Seto cursing loudly in his ear (the latter probably forgetting to close his line from earlier). He could also hear Pegasus' attempts to calm the vexed teenager down in the background. "That's…unexpected…" he said slowly.

"It would be very…wonderful…to have you here…" Yugi managed a strained smile. It wasn't that Yugi didn't like Prince's company, in fact, he actually found the other almost enjoyable to be with. It was the whole prospect of having to keep up their act for one whole day (at least until they were allowed to go home) that made him less than enthusiastic about everything.

However, not all were successful in hiding their dismay.

"You mean you're _not _going to leave in the next hour or so?" Marik asked bluntly.

Hearing this, Seto literally punched the button to open communications with the Egyptian dark. _"What the hell are you saying? Apologize to him, damn you!" _he shouted hysterically.

Marik winced at hearing Seto's voice seemingly screeching profanities in his head.

"_Speak up, damnit!"_

"I…uh, I mean…" Marik coughed, "That's…nice…"

Malik felt ashamed with his dark's display of utter stupidity. Bakura looked incredulously at Marik with an expression that said 'oh yes, that was _very _smooth'. It took everyone by surprise when Prince merely laughed it off, even going as far as to give Marik a fond gaze. "Oh, you really _do _remind me of my past boyfriend! Always contradicting himself the next second, sometimes I wondered if he was just plain crazy. He always did say the most ridiculous things."

Marik heard Malik snort beside him.

Prince continued talking. "Now…" he stood up, "Why don't you take me to my room so I can get settled, and then we could immerse ourselves with a day's worth of _fun_!"

A smirk wormed its way on Bakura's face. A rather nervous laugh came from Ryou as he eyed his dark warily, "Oh, yes…fun. Of course…"

-----

With Seto and Pegasus giving them directions around the mansion, the group finally came upon the servant's quarters. Bakura was seriously thinking that Seto was too rich for his own good. He could fully understand a household having a guestroom or two, but a guest _wing_? And the cold CEO rarely even invited anyone in his home.

"Rich selfish egotistical bastard," he muttered under his breath.

"Bakura," Ryou reprimanded him, "Shush! Kaiba can hear you, you know."

"It's not like he can do anything to me," Bakura shrugs carelessly.

Ryou only sighed in defeat. "Maybe I should've stayed with Malik…"

The blonde Egyptian light had requested that he remain behind since he was feeling sore, most likely from the beating he got from Marik and Bakura the day before.

Prince suddenly cut in with a laugh, "Now, now, don't tell me you'd rather lie around in pain than go on this wonderful tour with the rest of us!" he exclaimed jovially, "I've got to say though, I still can't believe how intense the…" he coughed, "_intercourse _between Marik and him must have been to make Malik unable to walk. The worst I experienced was limping, and maybe a jolt of pain every now and then. "

The customary mischievous smirk wormed its way on Bakura's face. "They must have been performing some serious '_acrobatics'_ then, eh Marik?" he snickered looked at said Egyptian.

Marik, hearing this, immediately reddened and spluttered. He turned around to look at Bakura directly, his eyes fiery. "It wasn't _my _fault!"

Prince gave the one blonde an honestly skeptical look. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Marik said confidently, he glared at Bakura's direction, "It was _his _fault, but Malik still bitches on me."

Yugi and Yami, who stopped to see what the ruckus was about, were surprised to see Prince narrow his eyes at Marik. Their guest was looking at the blonde suspiciously, kind of similar to how Seto looks at Bakura and Marik all the time, actually. Slowly, Prince said, "Didn't you say earlier that _you_ were the one who caused those injuries before? Because you 'got carried away', to quote?"

Realizing his slip up, Marik could only gawk in response, his mouth opening and closing though no sound came out.

"I…I mean, uh…"

"I think I can see what's going on…" Prince said lowly, looking intensely between Marik and Bakura (both of which were frozen in place). Yami and Yugi fidgeted in the background, thinking the same thing; 'We're screwed'.

Seto was once more panicking in the control room. 'Shit, that idiot's going to give everything away!' he made to snatch the microphone to yell at the Egyptian but he was beaten to it by Pegasus. Seto glared at the older man, "Pegasus! Give me that—"

Pegasus rolled his eyes calmly at him. "Oh get a hold of yourself Kaiba-boy. I'll take care of it…" and with that, he flicked the microphone on.

A pair of suddenly cold brown eyes finally settled on Bakura. "You're having an affair with Malik."

Yugi's already large eyes widened even more. Yami didn't look any better.

A choking sound came from Bakura's direction, "_W-What?_" he managed to say, eyes bugging out.

"I was wondering why those two were acting so jumpy when I asked them where Malik got his injuries…" Prince mused as he waved a hand at Marik's direction, eyes narrowed. "Now I know why…"

Everyone seemed to have lapsed into a complete standstill. Seto was the only one who wasn't affected by this uncomfortable silence. He turned to Pegasus, "Go! Before those idiots bring everything else out of proportion! Make anything up! ANYTHING!"

Pegasus didn't need to be told twice. _"Bakura…"_ he started.

The thief snapped out of his muddled thoughts upon hearing the man's voice. There was another few seconds of silence before Bakura broke it. "I…" he said, gaining everyone's attention, "I…guess it had to come out sooner or later…" he looked down with shame.

Ryou looked at Bakura as if he had grown a dozen more heads.

He continued, "I didn't really mean it to go this far…Ryou was just being sensitive and I _really _needed someone to take it out on, you know? It started…a month or so ago, and just yesterday Ryou was being such a sissy so I went to see Malik. I kind of lost control in the middle of…it. Malik _did _say he liked it rough…ehehe…"

Yami found himself almost _believing _what Bakura was saying (much to his dismay).

All of them started when Prince suddenly straightened himself out, a hard expression on his face. "Well…this is your business. I hardly think I am qualified to meddle in your affairs. I am, however, concerned about Ryou," he looked at the white-haired boy. "I would fully understand it if you want to cut my tour short so you could speak to your lover."

Ryou blinked for a moment. "Uh…" his eyes darted to Prince and to Bakura, "Well…I don't really think that's necessary…"

Prince looked at him in shock. "You…don't?"

"I…uh…I'm a…very forgiving person…" Ryou said.

Hidden from the others' sight, Seto slapped a palm on his forehead.

------

Bakura and Marik both had very sour faces on as they waited in the hallway with a slightly red-faced Ryou.

The two darks had just been at the receiving end of a very hysterical Seto Kaiba's lecture. Yami and Yugi were spared from this torture because they were with Prince, helping him settle in with the room he chose. Ryou (though Seto was less then impress with his 'I'm a very forgiving person' line), was only told to "for all our sakes, just keep quiet if you can't think of _anything_ to say!" The poor white-haired boy had only blushed and muttered a very soft "Sorry…" whilst staring at the ground.

The almost companionable silence was broken by Marik's slowly increasing snickers.

Ryou stared at the Egyptian in bewilderment while Bakura gave the other dark an irritated look.

"Now what?"

"You…and _ Malik_," Marik said in-between snickers.

Bakura bristled immediately, causing Marik to laugh some more. Ryou, seeing that this could lead to yet another undesirable fight stepped in. "Uh…calm down Bakura," he carefully placed a hand on his other's shoulder. "It could've been worse."

"What's worse than pretending to have a _relationship _with Malik?" Bakura hissed, "Besides, aren't you, my dear lover, feeling even an _inkling _of jealousy that I'm supposed to be 'cheating' on you?"

Ryou blushed briefly but managed to hold his ground. "Well…at least it isn't Yami or Yugi…"

Marik nearly collapsed into a fit of laughter. Ryou was silently thinking he should've taken Seto's advice to stay quiet when he was at lost at what to say more seriously.

Bakura honestly appeared to think about this for a moment. That was a worst-case scenario if there ever was one. He almost shivered at the thought. "Damn…it's like a choice between the less disgusting of two evils," he muttered.

----

Yami dragged Prince's suitcase near the closet before turning to the said man, "Uh…do you want us to help you unpack, Mr. Dre—I mean, Prince?"

The other shook his head and smiled. "No, no. I'm fine. I'll just fix my things up later."

Yugi looked at him and said nervously, "Umm…well, do you need anything else? Or should we continue with your tour now?"

"Yes, I suppose we could continue…"

Yami and Yugi made their way to the door when the smaller boy suddenly felt Prince's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at the man questioningly, careful not to show how nervous he was feeling.

Yami stared at the man cautiously. That episode with Marik and Bakura earlier just jogged his guard up a few levels. Prince was clearly not any stupid mindless idiot. They were extremely lucky that he still remained oblivious to what they were _really _hiding (Prince accusing Bakura of having an affair was the farthest thing from what they expected the black-haired man to do, but nonetheless, they were relieved to have their secret remain safe).

A very composed and stern expression was on Prince's face as he said, "I want you two to be honest with me here…"

Both boys stiffened. Were they wrong in thinking that they've escaped suspicion already?

"Bakura and Ryou…are they getting along fine? With their relationship and sex life, I mean…"

Yugi merely gawked at him. Fortunately, Yami managed to overcome his shock and say (albeit shakily), "I…think so…I mean…yeah…"

"Please," Prince said seriously, "I know you can sense the tension and frigidity between those two as well as I can. It's obvious they're having some problems."

By now, even Yami was at lost as to what to say.

"Tell me…" Prince continued, "And I want the truth…" he paused, and then, "Is Bakura abusing Ryou?"

There was a moment of utter silence.

"What?" Yugi squeaked.

Prince's gaze hardened, "You can't possibly believe anyone could forgive their lover just like _that _after discovering his infidelity!" he half-shouted, referring to how Ryou seemed to merely wave off the fact that Bakura cheated on him, with a friend nonetheless!

Yugi gulped, "Well…erm, like Ryou said, he's a very forgiving person…"

Prince's brown eyes narrowed into slits. "So if Bakura had sex with you, or maybe even Yami here, Ryou would just shrug it off?"

A choking sound came from the pharaoh. He spluttered, "We are _not _having any sort of affair with that freak!"

"Freak?" Prince repeated suspiciously.

Yami stopped. "I…I mean—he's a bit rough around the edges…but, uh…he's a good person?" Yami felt like washing his mouth with soap after he spoke that part.

But Prince didn't seem to be paying any attention to him anymore. The older male had a faraway look on his face and his mouth was set in a deep frown. It was as if his personality just took a 180 degree turn all of a sudden. The Prince before them now was very different from how he was earlier; carefree, joyful, and full of laughter. Now he looked so serious and maybe even a bit…murderous?

"Hmph…yes, I probably should've seen what kind of person he was before…I was just too distracted while we were talking about sex…and judging from how he keeps exchanging those suggestive looks with Marik, he's probably screwing him too…" he muttered to himself. He briefly wondered what Malik would say if he found out his own lover is cheating on him as well. The two blondes didn't seem to have a very healthy relationship now that he looked at their situation. And that Bakura…

Prince felt a newly-developed deep loathing for the boy. He was a warm friendly kind of person, don't get him wrong, but if there was one thing he couldn't stand it was anyone who took their relationships and partners as some kind of trivial joke. He would have to change the other's attitude,

This visit might be more interesting than he thought…

----

"Oh dear…" Pegasus said as he, along with Seto, looked on as the conversation between Yugi, Yami, and Prince took a decidedly unexpected turn.

Seto cursed (something fairly common this particular day). If Prince kept hurling accusations left and right, things are going to get really complicated, really fast. Having Bakura pretend to have…feelings for Malik was bad enough. And now, by how things were going, they have to pretend Ryou has an abusive relationship with Bakura as well.

But it wasn't like they had a choice. They had to do anything, make Prince believe _anything_ (no matter how downright ridiculous it may be) to make sure he doesn't manage to get to close to the truth.

Seto seriously doubted any of the boys had the acting potential to handle this. Hell, they were even having trouble _pretending _to be getting along with the other half of their _souls_ for heaven's sake (Yami and Yugi were the only exception).

But if that was what it took to keep Prince 'blind'…then so be it. It wasn't as if _he _was the one who had to surrender his dignity by acting queer anyways. Besides, Bakura had it coming to him after that thing about him and Pegasus having children. The white-haired man had been giving him some very unsettling looks since the tomb robber voiced his disturbing thoughts.

------------

**Oh, don't you just love making relationships complicated with all those love triangles/squares/octagons? XD (Even if the 'relationships' are technically not real).**

** Malik's on a break this chapter, but don't worry, he'll be back on the next one. I couldn't abandon my favorite character now, could I?**

**Oh why, why, _why_, do some of you think Marik/ Malik would be hard to do? (refrains self from ranting about the awesomeness of bronzeshipping). This pairing needs some love, people! (cries)**

**Ahem…anyways…on to the yaoi-or-not subject…**

**As I look at all of your enthusiastic responses…I've now come upon the final decision to make this (yes, you guessed it), yaoi/shonen-ai. What the reader wants is what they get! (a bit of yaoi-obsessed slaves aren't you all? Heh, but I guess I am as well XD).**

**I'd want to thank **_**Bakura's Reflection**_** for bestowing upon me this wonderful idea as to how I'd be able to handle our dear bishie's relationships. I am already giggling in anticipation. (Advanced happy birthday btw! Consider this as a present of sorts XD).**

**As **_**Nemesis Jedi **_**said (thanks for the in-depth review. I always love long reviews XD), this could the opening to a whole new world of laughing-ness (yeah, I know that's not a word).**

**I'm sorry for anyone who **_**didn't **_**like this fic to have yaoi. But majority rules. I hope you give it a chance even so though, who knows, you might see yaoi in a whole different light! I myself detested yaoi for a while before, just so you know. I even sometimes wonder how I came to love it in the first place.**

**For the rest of you yaoi freaks (I mean that in a good way!), consider your wishes granted. See you all soon.**

**And just to tease you all…there's gonna be a kind-of-but-not-really 'BED SCENE' in the next chapter. What the hell do I mean? Hehe, you'll find out soon enough.**


	12. Chapter 12: Our Tragic Love Affair

**Ah, here we go. The 12****th**** chapter…after more than two months of inactivity. The bed scene I mentioned last chapter is finally here. So I suggest you read on if you want to see how I managed such a scene. **

**And just a shout-out to Nemesis Jedi (if you're still there); yes, a possessive Yami is entertaining ;3 But ever thought of a possessive Yugi? (laughs)**

--------------

Chapter 12:

Our Tragic Love Affair

------

The moment Prince, along with Yami and Yugi, came out of the guest room, Ryou knew something was wrong. He perceived this from the suspicious and altogether _hostile _glances their visitor kept shooting at Bakura. Prince also seemed to be looking at him differently, but it wasn't the same as the toned-down glare that was aimed at his dark side. Instead, he was giving Ryou a look similar to one you'd give to a down-trodden lost puppy…or a burn victim.

Ryou wanted to ask Yami or Yugi what happened but didn't want to risk Prince over-hearing, so stayed quiet.

They were wandering around the mansion now, continuing the tour. Yami took the task of being the tour guide (with Seto's verbal help), whilst Pegasus would speak every once in a while with the rest of the boys so they could give in their own inputs.

Prince seemed to be enjoying himself, but there was no mistaking his change of attitude since he 'found out' that Bakura wasn't as honest and sincere as he originally thought.

They were walking around for around ten minutes when Bakura suddenly snapped.

"Alright, that's _it_!" he turned to Prince with slightly crazed eyes, "What the _hell_ are you glaring at me for?"

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Prince looked down at Bakura and raised an eyebrow delicately, "Excuse me?" he said in an icy tone.

Ryou, sensing that this could only lead to more trouble, started to try and calm Bakura down. "Hey, come on Bakura, I'm sure Mr. Dream didn't mean anything by it…" he touched his other gently on the arm.

"Shut up, Ryou. You saw how he was looking at me! It's like he wants to bite my head off or something. And stop touching me," he slapped Ryou's hand off roughly. Ryou only frowned and was about to retort when Prince stepped between the two of them. He stared at Bakura coldly, "You _really _are a piece of work, aren't you?"

Bakura looked at him, clearly confused. Yugi and Yami, who were the only ones who knew partly why Prince was acting so rashly towards the white-haired dark wore worried expressions. Marik, on the other hand, was watching the scene with casual amusement.

Prince wrinkled his nose as he looked at the tomb robber in distaste. "The way you treat your lover is shameful. I can't even say how much I regret saying that Ryou here is lucky to have you," at this point, Yami couldn't agree more and barely stopped himself from commenting, "Is this how you treat the love of your life, Bakura?"

"What are you—"

"Shrugging him off so callously, telling him to 'shut up', and slapping a gentle caress as roughly as you did?" Prince's voice was rising steadily. "Is _this _your twisted way of showing your love for your special other, Bakura?"

"Hey, hey!" Bakura said loudly, "You're exaggerating everything! It's not like a freaking _stabbed _him for touching me! He was invading my personal space!"

"Your personal space?" Prince repeated nastily, "Hmm…so I guess, if Ryou slapped _your _hand because you invaded _his_ personal space, it would be alright as well?"

"Like hell I'd allow him to slap me around!" he shouted without thinking. "It's not like he'd ever have the guts to do anything like that anyways…hmph, it's not my fault he's a doormat."

Ryou fumed silently and was about to say something to defend his dignity but wasn't given the opportunity to do so. Prince gave Bakura the most revolting look he ever saw, "You _disgust _me," he said. Before Bakura or anyone else had the chance to react, he stomped off, only pausing to address Yami and Yugi. His eyes lost some of its glare as he spoke to the wide-eyed pair, "I would like to spend some time to steam off…would you two care to direct me to the indoor pool we passed by earlier?"

"I…I suppose we can…" Yugi said timidly, still shaken with Prince's outburst only seconds ago.

"What about us?" Marik suddenly asked. Prince gave him a look, but other than that, gave no other sign of hearing him.

Ryou suddenly found himself being pulled by Prince along as Yami and Yugi uncomfortably started walking away. "I want you to come with us, Ryou. I need to talk with you about your…relationship," he said the last part softly, so that only Ryou could hear. The confused boy didn't even have the chance to reply when Prince ushered him along as they followed the tri-colored pair, leaving Marik and Bakura behind.

-----

"Oh…" Pegasus said softly as he watched the group split into two. "That was intense."

Seto nodded slightly. They had decided to let everything run its course this time (meaning with no interference in their part). Prince (and Bakura's big mouth), might seem to be causing havoc, but it was actually quite beneficial in the long run. Hopefully, with Prince being to busy with the 'horror' of Ryou and Bakura's relationship, his attention wouldn't stray towards any more accusations. Bakura and Ryou only had to play their part, and by the looks of it, they were doing just fine. Bakura being indignant and seemingly 'in denial' only leads Prince to believe that he's 'guilty' even more so. But still, they would have to inform Bakura and Ryou of their supposed-to-be abusive relationship just to make sure.

He opened Bakura's line, Ryou would have to wait for later since he currently has Dream all over him.

"_Bakura," _Seto started. _"We need to—"_

"_Kaiba! Did you see THAT!" _Bakura yelled. Looking at the screen, Seto saw that Bakura was waving his hands around in obvious disbelief; he was looking at the direction the others had disappeared to. Marik on the other hand, was considerably calmer, and seemed to be merely amused with the situation by far.

"_Freaking bastard! How dare he fuc—"_

"_Bakura," _Seto tried again, _"Could you please calm—"_

"—_king shove his nose into MY freaking relationship! And I'M Ryou's freaking boy—"_

Seto blinked and raised an eyebrow. Someone sure was possessive…

"—_friend! If I'm such an ass, then it's HIS fault for going out with me in the first place!"_

He sighed. And apparently completely guilt-free, as well.

Though Marik found Bakura's uncontrolled rage quite entertaining, he took it upon himself into calming his fellow dark down. "Oh, would you stop your bitching? You sound like a jealous boyfriend, you know. It's a bit creepy." This seemed to stop Bakura's rant instantaneously.

Bakura gave him a glare, his face tinged pink.

The momentary pause gave Seto the chance to talk to the white-haired boy at last.

"_Bakura, could you please remain calm for five minutes? You can continue bad-mouthing Dream after you listen to what I need to say." _Seeing that Bakura stayed silent, Seto continued, _"Something occurred while Dream was with Yami and Yugi. They were fixing up his room when Dream—"_

"_What? Hit on Yugi?" _Bakura sneered.

Seto only pursed his lips and continued, _"Not exactly," _he said with controlled patience, _"Dream has the impression that you're abusing Ryou. And that you're having an affair with Malik as well, I think. This is the reason why he's not as friendly towards you like before."_

Marik, who was excluded from the conversation (and not really liking this fact at all), jumped involuntarily when Bakura yelled, _"WHAT?!"_

The higher-than-normal pitch of Bakura's voice made Seto cringe.

"_What the _fucking _hell gave him _that _idea?"_ the enraged tomb robber exclaimed.

Seto sighed. _"It doesn't really matter, the point is that you have to live up to his expectations."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Imply that you're guilty. This way, Dream would be convinced that this is all there is to it…And that you're not a bunch of fake homosexuals"_

Bakura frowned, Seto sure was asking a lot from him._ "And just _how_ am I supposed to do this?"_ he finally said.

------

"Err…I wouldn't put it _that _way. Bakura's just a naturally pushy sort of person. And I'm kind of a…" Ryou gave a cough, "pushover sometimes…so, you know…"

Ryou couldn't believe the words he was saying to 'save' Bakura's image. As if there was an image to save at all. But still, the way Prince spoke about Bakura, you'd think he was nothing more than an ungrateful leech. Ryou wasn't sure what brought on this spout of hate when just a little while ago he and Bakura were getting along perfectly.

His dismissal of Bakura's supposed to be 'rottenness' however, didn't move Prince much.

"Oh, Ryou," he said in an exasperated tone, "You don't need to stand up for that two-timing bastard," he laid a hand comfortingly on Ryou's shoulder, "Though it seems your capacity for forgiveness is never-ending, it won't settle well with the suffering that I'm sure you're feeling internally—"

"Really—I'm fine!" Ryou said dryly.

"—I mean, I don't even know _how _you manage to remain friends with Malik. You two have a very chaotic relationship as far as I can see."

Ryou blinked. "What? Why wouldn't I be friends with Malik?"

Prince frowned at him disapprovingly. "Come now, you don't need to act all clueless with me. I know what's going on between him and Bakura."

He had no idea what Prince was talking about. What happened between Bakura and Malik? "Did they have a fight or something?" he asked.

Prince was about to reply when Yugi dropped in. The small boy was carrying a tray of beverages and was concentrating very hard on not tripping over and spilling the drinks everywhere. "Ah…here you go, Prince. The uh…lemon iced tea you requested. Yami's just getting your…nachos, was it?"

A thankful smile spread on Prince's face. "Oh, you're just too kind, Yugi. I hope I didn't hassle the kitchens with my request. I just have this habit of eating nachos when I'm even a little bit upset, they're sort of my comfort food, you know?"

Yugi placed the tray on the nearby table and then tilted his head with concern towards Prince. "You're upset? I…please forgive us if the tour isn't going along as you would've liked. Me and Yami aren't exactly the best hosts, I guess…"

"It isn't you two," Prince retorted. "I'm talking about Bakura, that two-timing fiend just effectively ruined my mood."

"Two-timing…" Ryou trailed off, "What are you talking about?"

Prince looked at him with a confused expression. When Ryou's troubled look didn't change he turned to Yugi and said in a disbelieving tone, "_He doesn't know?"_

"I—uh, I don't really—"

"What don't I know?" Ryou asked, suspicions rising. Prince looked at him sorrowfully, "Oh, my boy, I'm so sorry. I—oh, I don't know what to say!"

Now thoroughly confused, Ryou could only watch as Prince appeared to wipe a pitying tear from the corner of his eye.

"I don't know how to say this, but…." A dramatic pause, "Ryou…you see…Bakura is…" he thought of some way to tell the poor boy of his lover's misdeed, he must make sure to let it out slowly. "He's fluttering everywhere, you know, flitting from one flower to another without care, like a butterfly…do you get what I mean?"

Ryou stared at Prince with his mouth half-open. Did the American just compare Bakura to a _butterfly_?

"Err…I'm afraid I don't really understand what you're trying to say…" he said slowly.

Prince sighed deeply, feeling so sorry for the white-haired boy in front of him. "You've lost Bakura, Ryou. He's been seeing Malik…_intimately_. I'm so sorry."

There was a long pause wherein Ryou struggled internally as he processed what Prince just said. 'Bakura…and _ Malik_?'

Wherever Prince got this from, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

-----

Malik didn't think that having a sprained ankle could save him from a whole lot of grief until today. Now he was free from all this stressful acting, at least for a short while. He'd been relaxing in the receiving room ever since the others left and was very willing to remain doing so all day if possible. Hmm…maybe he could sneak out Seto's mansion. He was almost sure that he wouldn't be caught, what with everyone too busy keeping their visitor entertained.

Thinking that he'd rested his sore body enough, Malik carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position, having a bit of difficulty because of the sling on his right arm. Then he slowly stood up, and hobbled towards the door. He winced a bit every time he stepped forward on his injured foot.

He groaned. God, he felt so handicapped.

It was a slow (and pain-filled) journey, but Malik managed to find one of the exits leading out to the estate's grounds. He felt very lucky for his accomplishment because he honestly had no sense of direction of where he was going.

Freedom was just down the hallway, directly straight ahead. Probably around two dozen steps and he'd be liberated…and all he'd need to do is walk across the one-kilometer garden of the Kaiba estate until he reached the main gate. He felt sure his foot was going to fall off halfway there.

Malik was seriously contemplating whether he should risk permanent disability when the decision was made for him, in the form of a _very _hard slap on his back. A familiar and unwelcomed voice said, "Oi, we were looking for you. How'd you get here? I thought you were bedridden or something."

He turned around and gave Bakura a haughty glance, "I was just about to fly out to freedom. You ruined my moment." He said in a bland tone.

Bakura gave him a weird look but decided to keep his questions to himself. He should refrain from irritating the other boy (at least for now), especially since he'd need Malik to be in a _very _good mood considering what Seto had asked him to do.

"Eh, we need to do something for Kaiba, he sent me to fetch you. Come on," Bakura started walking away.

Having no other choice, Malik sulked after him after one last longing look at the exit. He limped a few paces behind Bakura, muttering to himself. Bakura managed to catch his name a few times, alongside Marik's, as well as a few choice curses thrown in. It was obvious that Malik still hasn't forgiven them for their brawl yesterday. No one could compare to Malik when it came to grudges. Anyone who believed otherwise should go talk to Yugi or Yami.

"What are we supposed to do?" Malik said in a louder voice. "And why did Seto send you to find me? He could've just told me himself whatever he needed to say through all this technological stuff he gave us," he gestured at his hidden earpiece.

Bakura gave a careless shrug. "Don't ask me how Kaiba's mind works," he said. The truth was Seto didn't feel like being the unfortunate individual tasked to tell Malik the developments that occurred in his absence. He reasoned that Malik might understand it as being his fault and set out to claim revenge or something. So he had Bakura do the explaining for him.

But Bakura too wasn't at all eager to have Malik hunting down _his _hide. Which is why he decided that Malik didn't need to know _everything _that they had planned, until they were _just _about to do it.

Yeah, that would be fine.

"Where are we going anyways?" Malik spoke once more.

"To…eh, Prince's bedroom…"

Malik caught up with him with a few agonizing leaps. Bakura was mumbling, which meant one thing; he's hiding something. "And what are we supposed to do once we're there?" he demanded, forcing Bakura to look at him by stepping in his path.

Bakura thought quickly, "Kaiba's having us go through Dream's things. He said we might learn something about him that could help us remain in his good graces," he raised a hand when Malik opened his mouth to speak, "Like I said, don't ask me how Kaiba's mind works."

With that, he stepped around Malik and continued walking. He let out a small sigh of relief when he heard Malik's uneven footsteps start following him again.

"Fucking Kaiba…who does he think he is…freaking ordering us around…as if he doesn't have enough slaves around here to check through Dream's bags…" Malik's muttering continued.

Soon, they were facing one of the mansion's many staircases. The guest rooms were on the second floor. Bakura had only taken a few steps up when Malik exclaimed, "Hey! Wait a minute!"

Bakura turned around to see a slightly red-faced Malik. "What now?" He watched Malik give the staircase a withering look.

"I can't go up without help…" he mumbled in a embarrassed way.

It took Bakura a few seconds to understand the underlying message of what Malik had just said.

And then, "I am _not _holding your hand. Leave that honor to Marik," he continued scaling the stairs, "You better start crawling, I'll just wait for you at the top."

-----

"Ah, that was a refreshing swim, wasn't it?" Prince said as he dried his long hair with the towel Yugi had offered. "A perfect activity to wash away all those negative emotions," he looked at Ryou directly.

"Um, yes. Perfect," Ryou said, trying to put some feeling in his words.

Prince looked at him intently for a moment. He was becoming quite worried about that boy. When he had revealed Bakura's dark secret, he'd expected that Ryou would drop into some state of shock, or maybe shout and demand for an explanation or proof of Bakura's fault. Instead, Ryou appeared to be indifferent about this. It unnerved him, maybe Ryou had become so numb because of all Bakura's beatings and mistreatment that he had been reduced to this shell of what he once was.

Yami and Yugi exchanged worried-filled glances as they watched Ryou shift uncomfortable under Prince's scrutinizing gaze. They were walking back to Prince's room. Their visitor had just finished his swim and needed a new set of clothes.

"You know, Ryou, you don't need to suffer alone in this. Don't be afraid to ask for help."

"Err…I'm okay, really—"

"_Come on, Malik…No one's here! You just better be sure you can handle _me_," _came Bakura's voice

They stopped in their tracks. Yami, who was in front of the group looked ahead. The sound was coming from Prince's room. What the hell were Bakura and Malik doing there?

He walked forward quickly, the others not far behind him. Yugi and Ryou looked as confused as he, but Prince's expression had darkened considerably, his brown eyes narrowed and blazing. Yami feared that Malik had finally acted on his anger with Bakura for being half-guilty of the injuries he sustained yesterday. 'Why in the world did they have to pick Prince's room out of all places to start another bloody fight?' he asked himself.

Yami grasped the doorknob, hoping to stop whatever those two were doing before Prince could realize what's going on. He was just about to turn it around when he heard a strange sound from the other side of he door. It sounded like something ripping apart.

'Oh, damn, Kaiba isn't going to be happy if they rip the bedsheets up or something.'

"_What the fuck—my shirt! Bakura what the hell—"_

"_Oh, you won't be needing those for what we're doing…" _Bakura's voice sounded sultry. Yami's eyes widened.

'Wha---they're…are they…' he felt strangely nauseous.

"Yami?" Yugi came up behind him, Ryou by his side. "What's wrong? We should calm them down before…" he trailed off at his partner's wide-eyed look. Yami pointed weakly at the door.

"T-They're…they're…" he stuttered.

Yugi leaned forward, bringing his ear closer to the door. His brow furrowed. He couldn't hear any—

"_Come _on, _ Malik! We haven't had a chance to do it for the whole day _!"

"_Do it—?"_

"_Yes, now let's take off those pants of yours…"_

There was another loud ripping sound and a startled yelp. A chuckled followed a second later, it sounded like Bakura's. Yugi almost leaped away from the door, his expression similar to that of Yami's. Ryou wasn't looking any better than his two friends as well. They stared at the door in horror, their minds providing the images to go along with the suggestive yelps, thumping, and maybe even very drawn out moans they had the misfortune of hearing.

"_That's it, Malik! SCREAM MY NAME!"_

Yami, Yugi, and Ryou's faces paled. They barely even noticed Prince walking towards them, laying his hand on the doorknob, and turning it around…

----

**Around 5 minutes earlier…**

His hands were sweating, strange enough. Why was he feeling so nervous? Seto's order wasn't _that _hard to follow…Bakura chanced a glance at the oblivious Malik, who was grudgingly opening up Prince's packed bags. Lucky that Malik was in a weakened state, this way, Bakura could overpower him if he decided to get violent (which he was almost sure he would). He was pretty sure Malik could do little damage with one arm and foot out of order.

Maybe he _should_ tell Malik Seto's plan for them…now.

"Hey, Mal—" he started. But another voice cut his speech off, _"Bakura, get ready. Prince and the others are coming. They should be there in a minute. Remember; make it _very _convincing_," said Seto, and then he was gone, leaving Bakura in a state of near-panic which he barely succeeded in keeping hidden.

'Fuckshit_…fuckfuckfuck…'_

Malik, still unaware of everything that transpired, was rummaging through Prince's belongings. He felt around inside one of the bags and felt something cold and metallic. He pulled it out to take a look, a smirk forming afterwards on his face.

"Hey! Bakura!" he called with laughter in his voice, "Look what I found!" he held up a pair of elaborately-decorated handcuffs. "Never thought he'd be someone into this, huh?" he snickered.

Bakura gulped, "Uh, yeah…I guess. Malik, I need to tell you something—"

But Malik didn't seem to hear him. The blonde was busy digging deeper into their guest's bags, this time he resurfaced holding a firm leather whip. Malik whistled, "Damn…he wasn't kidding when he said he liked whippings, was he?"

Suddenly, Bakura stilled. His keen hearing picked up a couple of pairs of footsteps getting closer and closer. With a quick prayer to the god he never acknowledged even once before, he made his move.

He strode over to Malik's sitting form and snatched the handcuffs away from the tanned boy.

"Hey, what do you think you're—"

"Come _on, _ Malik…No one's here! You just better be sure you can handle_ me_," Bakura said, making sure to keep his voice loud and clear. He noticed the footsteps stop, and knew that the others heard what he said.

Now here came the hard part…

Malik looked at him questioningly. "What are you babbling about?" he stumbled backwards when Bakura placed his palm over his mouth. He mumbled in protest and attempted to pull it off with his able hand but stopped when Bakura started to whisper.

"Just play along."

He released his hold, Malik remained silent, staring at him incredulously. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Bakura saw the door handle move. He had to act quickly. Possible scenarios ran through his head, and in a second he picked one, convinced that it was their best bet lest they lose this chance to have Prince 'witness' their affair. Not to mention Seto would be pissed if they failed.

Bakura whipped out a knife he always kept on his person, and in a flash, had ripped Malik's shirt clean through. Malik gave a small strangled shout and stumbled in his haste to leap away from the blade. He could've sworn the steel blade just tickled the surface of his skin. "What the fuck—my shirt! Bakura what the hell—"

The tomb robber cut him off. And once more said in a ridiculously loud voice, "Oh, you won't be needing those for what we're doing…"

Malik nearly choked in shock. The seductive tone Bakura was using was more than disconcerting, never mind that Bakura's face didn't really correspond to what he was saying. In fact, his face was a bit pale and a bit fearful as he spoke. 'What the freaking hell was going on?'

"Come on, Malik! We haven't had a chance to do it for the whole day!" he shouted.

Malik moved away from the surely-crazy dark. "Do it—?" he said weakly.

"Yes, now let's take off those pants of yours…" whereas Bakura's voice sounded eager and anticipating, he had an expression on as if he was ready to hurl. Malik, for a moment, felt offended. This went away immediately when Bakura pushed him unceremoniously on the bed, and started ripping his pants off.

Malik yelped and tried to push the other off only to have Bakura let out a very uncharacteristic chuckle. He noted that it looked really weird for the dark to seemingly chuckle delightedly whilst holding a suffering expression.

The feeling of metal encircling his left wrist jarred him back to their situation.

"BAKURA—" he literally screamed.

"That's it, Malik! SCREAM MY NAME!" Bakura yelled with delight, still wearing that strange agonizing expression. He attempted to punch the other boy but only ended up grunting in pain because of his still-recovering arm.

"FUCKING FREAKING—YOU'RE CRAZY!" Malik yelled when Bakura started pulling off the shredded parts of his pants. He managed to kick Bakura's groin, only to feel a sharp pain travel up the foot he used. He thought for a moment that Bakura had literal balls of steel before realizing he had kicked with his sprained foot, thus resulting in this pain-filled misery.

"CRAZY WITH _SEX!_" Bakura shouted in a strangled sort of voice, still dutifully continuing his part, even as he kneeled forward in obvious pain.

_SLAM!_

The door had burst open.

In a split second, several things happened at once, some of which Malik could barely register. Bakura had made a miraculous recovery and had jumped forward, landing on top of him. The pain Malik felt with Bakura's weight crushing his arm and foot made the blonde scream out loud. He barely noticed that Bakura was now topless, and that he was only left with his boxers (and a few strips of his massacred khakis). Prince had walked in, looking livid and murderous even in a bathrobe. Yami, Yugi, and Ryou followed soon after. The new arrivals were focused on Malik and Bakura's tangled sweating bodies, one was furious, three shocked beyond comprehension.

Malik breathed in and out in short gasps; exhausted with all the struggling he was doing as Bakura nearly-but-not-really molested him. His companion was no better, moaning feebly, no doubt the pain of being kicked were the sun doesn't shine coming back in full force.

When Malik realized the timely arrival of the others, his eyes widened into saucers. Bakura for some sick reason he didn't _want _to know, looked pleased.

The two groups stared at one another for a very long moment. Malik thought everything was over, but was proven wrong by the last member of their group popping in.

Marik walked into the room casually but halted upon seeing the scene. His eyes looked towards his light and Bakura, a betrayed expression surfacing on his features (which Malik found comical). And then in an exaggerated teary voice he exclaimed, " Malik! You're gay!"

They all looked at him, not knowing what to make of what he just said.

Seeing his slip-up, Marik tried to undo his mistake. "I mean— Malik, you cheating bastard! I trusted you!" he sobbed dramatically, Malik only stared at him, still in a state of shock. "That's it! We're DONE!" and with that he fled out the door, in what Malik assumed to be his dark's version of a dramatic pain-filled exit.

-----------

**Oh, I feel so accomplished in finishing this at last. What do you think about that 'bed scene' huh? (snickers) Isn't it so passionate, and heated, and destructive, and just plain too sweet?**

…**.(bursts out laughing)**

**Damn, my favorite part is Marik's timely (and scripted XD) entrance and exit. I just realized I was neglecting him nearly the whole chapter and set out to remedy this (I could never allow myself to neglect my second fave character, after all). Malik makes up for his absence in the last chapter with a bang. Poor guy.**

**And now Ryou's traumatized.**

**Don't worry about Marik and Malik, they're just acting, they love each other deep DEEP down (lols).**

**Bronzeshipping forever people! (is random)**

**Anyways, before I leave you all, I want to advertise a fic I'm writing with **_**Tenshi no Toki**_**. We've already planned out the storyline, and I personally feel the plot's very unique (really! XD). Here's its basic info:**

**Title:** Fukushu (Japanese for 'revenge')  
**Rating: **T  
**Genre:** Fantasy/Romance  
**Summary:** Bakura, a scientist working for a secret genetic facility, is torn when his best friend flees after being subjected to an unwanted procedure. A young replacement arrives, and Bakura finds himself in possession of a critical secret. (Joint Fic, YAOI)  
**Pairings:** A secret for now (isn't your interest piqued? XD Nothing weird though, I promise you. Haha)

It's posted in **Tenshi no Toki's** account. Just click her link in my 'Favorite Authors' and you're there. Whoop!

**So a little favor, mind checking it out? And maybe even reviewing? Reviews equals motivation for updating, you know. And it will make us happyyyyy XD**

**But whatever, I hope you enjoyed this (incredibly late) chapter. **


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